It's OK to disagree and it's OK to be wrong. There's nothing wrong with being right either so in other words is also OK to be right too. We'll leave it up the people to decide who is right and who is wrong.
I did not lose any respect for Dubois. He stopped the fight without taking unnecessary damage. He can go back to the drawing board, analyze what went bad and regroup. He's young and if he takes the right lessons from this he can come back stronger.
Oh lookie, forum denizens who know nothing about personally fighting another man at a high level, and know nothing about fighting men while you have a broken orbital bone, type impotent words on their keyboards in ignorant condescending judgement about the men that do and the decisions they make while doing it. Yay. Lets take a very brief look at some of Dubois peers who are also 'quitters'. Vitali. Morales. Duran. Chavez Sr. De La Hoya. Israel Vasquez. Mike Tyson. Matthysse. Rafael Marquez. Kostya Tszyu. ect, ect, ect. Many of whom didnt even have an injury, like Dubois did. Meh... seems like hes in good company.
Yeah, and there's a long list of professional boxers and trainers who are admitting that Dubois was a bit hasty in quitting, to put it mildly. It's pretty straightforward. He quit. So his heart is being questioned. Quite rightly. He'll have ample opportunity to redeem himself on other nights. Good luck to him.
Unless a trainer has fought with a broken orbital bone... I dont really care what their assessment is. They havent actually felt what its like. And not just the pain, but the internal questioning that arises about the damage one is taking to their face and how it may permanently effect their careers going forward. So unless a trainers fought with one, I dont see why their opinion means much. As for other fighters... plenty of fighters havent joined the extensive list of fighters who have quit, because they've simply never been tested like that in a similar manner. Theres been a plethora of fighters that say theyd never quit, and likely judged other fighters for it at the time, only to go on and quit when they were faced with a situation that was too much for them given the circumstances. And when fighters quit, the reaction to it here and elsewhere online tends to extend beyond merely discussing and questioning the degree of their heart as a metric, and often turns to outright degrading and condescending ridicule. Theres a very select few fighters that truly are the purest of warriors... I think its possible to herald them without tearing down the fighters that dont want to risk serious injury for a W. .... Yes. Good luck to him indeed.
The thing is, Dubois's confidence and heart was fading long before his eye even showed swelling. He didn't immediately blame the eye when interviewed after the fight. He didn't mention eye pain, or fear of going blind, or anything like that. He didn't box in a way where he was trying to protect the eye. He conceded he was out of gas and didn't really have an answer, seemed mental exhaustion rather than physical. His corner were obviously concerned about his confidence, heart and composure from the very beginning. After the fact, a lot of you guys are saying "fractured orbital" but that's probably not what the quitting was about at all. The eye probably bothered him but he was more so folding under the pressure of being in the 10th of a 12 round fight, against a tough opponent. There was a definite feel of lack of confidence, lack of experience, catching up with him. I agree, there's no need to tear down Dubois. But it's fair to say he showed a questionable heart.
Agree that quitting is not such a big deal. But, still, he quit. That's a fact. That's not arguable. The OP asks, "still a quitter?". Hell, yeah, ofc. It has nothing to do with it. That was quitting. The right move? imho, yes. But that's quitting, regardless if that's the right move or not.
