Daniel Dubois' has had scans on his knee and may have suffered ligament damage according to his trainer Shane McGuigan.
Dubois made his latest appearance last weekend at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium when he took on Kevin Lerena in the chief support to Tyson Fury's routine win over Derek Chisora. It was a difficult evening for the British heavyweight who was dropped three times in the opening round but managed to survive to the final bell.
The rising star then came on strong in the third round after regaining his composure and rallied to detonate a barrage of punches to close the show himself. After the fight, Dubois appeared to be struggling with damage to his knee, and spoke about the impact it had on him being unable to stay on his feet in the opening round.
"His leg wasn't working for him and his knee is really swollen out now," McGuigan told reporters on a Zoom call when giving an update on Dubois' injury. "He has gone for a few scans and we still haven't got a full report back but it looks like it could be ligament damage. The next two shots didn't really hurt him but Kevin Lerena got hit back with like eight unanswered punches.
"Yeah he is in good spirits. He hyper-extended his knee, he went to put his heel down and 17 stone going through that is never a good sign. We don't know the severity of the injury yet. The physio has done some strength tests and there is definitely weakness in some area but I am not sure if that is a tear. We are waiting on MRI results and a specialist will then review it.
"I'm not too sure if it is a long injury. We have a really good bunch of people who would be able to rehab it. Of course ligaments are harder to repair so I don't see it being a lengthy lay-off no." Dubois currently holds the WBA 'regular' title belt and would likely be looking to enforce his challenge against the winner of any undisputed clash between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.
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However his win could face a small investigation by the WBA, after fans claimed he was "saved" by the bell which his opponent Lerena also believes rang early. In a statement on social media, Lerena's promoter Rodney Berman announced that the pair intend to launch an official complaint regarding the event.
He tweeted: “An objection will be lodged with the WBA and the British Boxing Board of Control – Lerena was very hard done by by a biased loyal referee. Fighters cannot be allowed to be treated so unfairly."
