Derek Chisora says Daniel Dubois quit against Joe Joyce and Oleksandr Usyk, but insists 'Daniel's changed' and won't do the same vs Anthony Joshua

10/09/2024 14:29

Derek Chisora insists Daniel Dubois is a different animal now.

‘Triple D’ was branded a ‘quitter’ by several members of the boxing fraternity after seeing out counts against Joe Joyce and Oleksandr Usyk on one knee.

Dubois suffered a broken eye socket against Joyce which rendered him unable to continue while he was counted out against Usyk after taking a stiff jab to the same eye.

A pair of gutsy wins against Jarrell Miller and Filip Hrgovic in the last 12 months have gone a long way in shifting the public’s perception of Dubois but he is still unable to shake the past completely.

During the most recent episode of talkSPORT’s talkBOXING podcast with Spencer Oliver, Simon Jordan and special guest Chisora, the panel debated whether Dubois had quit in both encounters and whether the mantra ‘once a quitter, always a quitter’ rings true with the Brit.

Asked if he thought Dubois quit against Joyce, Chisora replied: “Yes.”

Although, Oliver disagreed: “A broken eye socket, that’s not quitting.”

“That is being sensible. At what cost? That’s your career. He effectively saved his career.”

Chisora then interrupted: “An eye socket and I fought. Please, bro, that’s quitting. Let the ref stop it. It doesn’t matter, it’s quitting.”

Oliver and Chisora’s opinions may have differed on the Joyce fight but they were in agreement over how to define Dubois’ stoppage loss to Usyk.

“He blew a gasket,” said Oliver. “He had nothing left and he decided to go out on one knee, whereas the man to my left would decide to go out with nothing left.

“I understand what he is saying with the second one, I’m talking about the Joe Joyce fight, I don’t think he quit. Usyk, yes there is a debate about that.”

Chisora then tried to drive home his point that Dubois had given up in both fights

“Let me ask you this, he got hit on the same eye and he quit again,” he said.

“Joe Joyce hit him on the same eye, Oleksandr Usyk hit him on the same eye. Subconsciously, he thought he broke his eye socket.”

Despite his insistence that Dubois had given up twice before, Chisora believes the 26-year-old has a lot more mental fortitude heading into his September 21 clash with Anthony Joshua.

“That was then, this is now,” he added. “Look at his last fight with Hrgovic, Hrgovic hit him with straight right hands and he carried on going.

“He won the fight. Baby Miller was a scrap but he got so tired he was about to quit but he did not quit.

“So what I’m trying to say to you is the guy who boxed Joe Joyce and Oleksandr Usyk is not that guy anymore.

“He quit, but I don’t think the guy we’re looking at now is gonna quit at Wembley, I don’t think so.”

Dubois was recently elevated from ‘interim’ to full IBF world champion after Usyk vacated the black and gold strap to pursue his rematch with Tyson Fury at the back end of this year.

He will make the first defence of his world title against Joshua at Wembley Stadium in less than two weeks’ time.