Daniel Dubois Gets Off Canvas To Score Wild TKO

In a wild turn of events, WBA secondary heavyweight champ Daniel “Dynamite” Dubois got off the canvas three times in the opening round to somehow survive and go on to score a TKO himself over South African challenger Kevin Lerena Saturday night.

Heart. Guts. Determination.

What an incredible performance by @DynamiteDubois after getting knocked down THREE TIMES in the first round! 👏#FuryChisora pic.twitter.com/k7MgTwKdxH

— Boxing on BT Sport 🥊 (@BTSportBoxing) December 3, 2022

The bout immediately preceded Tyson Fury’s WBC heavyweight title defense against Derek Chisora in the main event at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. And, it saw the 14 to 1 favorite Dubois shockingly hit the canvas after a straight left hand caught him on the top of the head and seemed to stun him enough to go down.

Then, a bizarre set of circumstances started to unfold, as Dubois took a couple of more glancing blows later in the round and then later, simply went down on all fours on his own without even being hit. It was scored a second knockdown.

Dubois looked over at his corner with a confused expression and shook his head no almost as if he couldn’t continue. However, the bout did continue and Dubois a short time later went down again on all fours without Lerena even throwing a punch.

Fortunately for the Englishman, there was no automatic three knockdown rule from the WBA and the British Boxing Board of Control rules that would have stopped the fight automatically. The bell rang to end the first allowing Dubois time in between rounds to continue.

Did Dubois hurt himself?

Television audio caught Dubois tell his corner what sounded like: “my leg, I’m having trouble feeling it.” He pointed to he lower right leg with his glove. The corner then, advised him to move and not throw wide punches to see if the leg would get better? Lerena, who has primarily been a Cruiserweight in his career, didn’t press the action in round two and that seemed to give Dubois the chance to recover.

That led to the explosive ending in round three, when Dubois finally landed his trademark straight right hand through the southpaw guard of Lerena and dropped him on the seat of his pants with just over a minute remaining. He rose but was a little wobbly.

Dubois also scored with a couple of more chopping rights through Lorena’s guard and eventually trapped him along the ropes with a barrage of several punches. One was a devastating uppercut that snapped Lerena’s head back, and followed by a quick left which dropped him down to the bottom two strands of ropes. The bell rang in the round simultaneously but referee Howard Foster waved the fight off for a TKO victory for Dubois.

Dubois told BT Sport Television post-fight, “he caught me on top of the head. I felt like my knee went, but you know what? I’ve got the heart of a warrior. I just listened to my team.”

When asked what happened to his leg or not to affect the knockdowns, he responded, “You know what? I just didn’t feel it. The shot must have just,… I don’t know. Sh*t happens, doesn’t it?”

What’s next for Dubois?

So, despite being on the verge of being upset in the first round, it still goes down as a KO win by Dubois and keeps him very much in the picture for a potential world title shot sometime down the road.

Oleksandr Usyk holds three of the championships at heavyweight, including the WBA’s “super title.” And, Saturday’s victory puts Dubois in direct line to be the WBA mandatory challenger