Frank Warren has confirmed that an appeal to the WBA to force Oleksandr Usyk into a rematch against Daniel Dubois has been formally submitted to the world rating governing body.
Dubois suffered a ninth-round defeat to the unified world heavyweight champion Usyk. However, controversy ensured in round five when Dubois, at first glance, knocked down Usyk to the canvas courtesy of a body shot. However, referee Luis Pabon immediately ruled the punch a low-blow foul and allowed Usyk four minutes of recovery time before returning to his feet.
This moment was one of the few moments of success for Dubois on August 26 in Wroclaw, Poland. Usyk would recover and regain the contest’s full authority before defeating Dubois in round nine.
In their opinion, Promoter Warren and trainer Don Charles were incensed at referee Pabon for calling the body shot a foul. However, many believe the call by referee Pabon was correct. Warren immediately, post-fight, said to many media outlets and even the WBA representatives present that he would be appealing against the result.
Speaking to Seconds Out, Warren has confirmed that the appeal will be sent to the WBA by close of play on August 5.
“The appeal is being lodged today. It’s being finalised and will be with them today as per their (WBA) appeal process, their (WBA) regulations. So they’ll get it today, and they’re going to have to hear it.”
Warren continues to add that he feels confident that Dubois will be granted an immediate rematch with Usyk, which would be the “worse case scenario” in his opinion.
“I’d like them to do the right thing, and I think the worst case scenario is that they (WBA) call a rematch for the fight … The governing bodies will have to sort [the timing] out between them. There’s no reason why it shouldn’t be [immediate.]”
“I don’ think they (WBA) will [call a no contest] being realistic. I’d like them to, but I don’t think they will.”
Warren believes that he has accumulated enough evidence in their opinion to support their claims and have used various people outside of boxing to demonstrate and support the claims of Warren and Dubois as a whole.
“He deserves a rematch. The more you look at it and analyse it, obviously I’ve been doing that, and also the lawyers look at it. And other people have seen things in it.
“Respected people in trade who are neutrals, nothing to do with the outside or haters or anything. You can demonstrate in various ways through footage and photographs where the punch landed.”
Egis Klimas, who is the manager of Usyk, is confident that no such outcome by the WBA will come to fruition. On September 1, Warren confirmed that he was putting together an appeal, to which Klimas responded by saying, “Frank, you been in business longer than we all are, and you still believe in magic. Come on man. A low blow is a low blow.”
