Quitting

I thinkbhe faded around the 5th-6th and his corner did a good job in keeping him in it, they know you get a second wind and to be fair I thought he looked ok in the 9th and beginning of the 10th. Definitely had more to give but he also wasted quite a bit of energy early on when he missed with big shots.

 

Great post

 

The fight was for the BRITISH, EUROPEAN (vacant) and COMMONWEALTH TITLES.

Same as when Lennox Lewis fought Gary Mason in 1991.
People (of a certain age) will remember that Gary Mason had actually undergone eye surgery the previous year for detached retina and had briefly 'retired' before changing heart and coming back.
People will also remember that Lewis spoke openly about how he was going to target Mason's eyes in the pre-fight build up, and he did so.

And Mason put up a terrific effort. And he ended the fight (referee's stoppage) fighting back with TWO badly damaged eyes.

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So, when people wonder why Dubois' quitting is being criticized, remember the standard that has been set by British champions of the past.

 

Dubois' corner are getting undue stick for simply telling him to dig deep and fight on.
Sure, you can fault them for offering no good technical advice but as @N17 mentioned they seemed to know his weakness was mental from quite early on.
That's WHY they were telling him "you're in the fight game now".

It's really simple. The kid was found wanting in the heart department.
That's not to say he should be written off.
And I think he's got a lot of ability and showed some last night.
But it is what it is.
Mentally he wasn't ready for this test. He might never be. We shall see in due course.

 

Not less of a fighter if u do permanent damage to the eye that affects the reat of ur career. No idea what dubious felt in there. Everything juat now is just speculation. That fight will be the making or the breaking of the boy

 

What I meant by my post was that Joshua didn't get accused of quitting half as much as Dubois has, not general criticism

 

I agree with that. People were trying way too hard to find excuses with all the conspiracy theories, rather than just saying he quit.

 

Everybody entitled to their opinions but I thought at the time and still do that the referee and his corner were a disgrace.

DDD done the right thing taking the knee as that eye could have been a small number of punches away from permanent damage.

No point being a superhero when you may end up blind in the eye or worse and career finished at 23.

We had a young Jock guy die in the ring 3-4 years ago and let's not forget Nick Blackwell and Edward Gutknecht who both left the ring with life changing injuries. The latter to my knowledge cannot walk or talk.

Surely the quit brigade don't wish this on any fighter.

 

Yeah, a broken eye socket is not very nice, especially when it's being whacked by a 18 stone bloke constantly. I don't blame the lad for quitting, it's just a sport after all.

Kell Brook v Spence was a similar stoppage, I could tell there was something not right in that fight and the same in last night's. I can't criticise Dubois, but do wish it finished another way.

He'll live to fight another day, hopefully without permanent injury, if he works on his head movement and defence he can have a good career. If he'd kept going, his career may have ended last night. I know what I'd rather see (pardon the expression).

Sometimes it takes the bigger man to admit that he's beat.

 

In hindsight it was a bad decision putting a 23 year old novice with no notable wins in with a guy like Joyce and while Joyce isn't experienced at the professional level he is a man in his 30's with significant experience in the amateurs.
Dubois did quit but so have many great fighters in the past, depending on the severity of the injury Dubois can come back and fight some opponents that he'll learn from. Great win for Joyce BTW, he's a test for anyone in the HW division.

 

@Jurgen

I think the point most people are missing is that there are different levels of quitting.

#1 No Heart which can be rightly called upon - see Khan v Crawford

#2 Self preservation with regards a serious life changing injury.

Better to quit and come again than to be brave and not able to fight again.

For the record, I think Dubois was stuck somewhere between points 1 and 2. Open to individual interpretation I guess.

 

Why is it Joshua got some much criticism then? You don’t wish serious injuries on anyone and Joshua was clearly out of it after that punch to the temple, very interesting swing in opinions. Dubois is a quitter and will always be a quitter, you had him 3 up in the fight so how’s he quitting when he has a lead like that?