Daniel Dubois, who was questioned by the boxing world for taking a knee after a similar injury, has suggested that Billy Joe Saunders might have been taught a 'life lesson' following his broken orbital bone against Canelo Alvarez.
Full of bravado before the pair's supermiddleweight clash at the AT & T Stadium on Saturday, which Canelo won when Saunders' corner threw the towel in before the ninth round, the proud Traveller had been one of heavyweight contender Daniel Dubois' staunchest critics.
For taking a knee in the 10th round against Joe Joyce in late November due to suffering a broken eye socket, Dubois was counted out to his first ever defeat which caused the social media masses and boxing world to quickly swarm on the 23-year-old.
Dubois' heart questioned, the likes of Carl Frampton and David Haye were scathing on BT Sport's coverage of the bout in the UK with Saunders piping up elsewhere.
. @TheAthleticUK understands that Daniel Dubois suffered a broken orbital socket and nerve damage to his left eye during last night’s fight against Joe Joyce. The fight ended in the 10th round after Dubois took a knee and failed to beat the count #DuboisJoycepic.twitter.com/8z9FIWgkbs
"If my two eye sockets were broken, my jaw was broken, my teeth were out, my nose was smashed, my brain was beaten, I was not stopping until I was knocked out or worse," he insisted.
"I don’t agree with a man taking the knee and letting the ref count him out."
"Fighters get in that ring and we know what’s on the line. Every fighter needs to understand and the fans need to understand that.
"In the past, we’ve seen a lot of tragedies in boxing, deaths in the ring. Before I go on one knee I’d like to go out on my back with my pulse stopped," Saunders bragged.
Not important whether you think Billy Joe Saunders quit or not and whether that’s right or wrong. It’s more important what a boxer believes is best in that situation.
This is BJS on Daniel Dubois taking a knee & being counted out after also suffering orbital bone damage #boxingpic.twitter.com/sWS0EnmLWg
Asked by the i paper for his thoughts on Saunders ironically suffering a similar knock and then also bowing out, Dubois started by saying: "It’s amazing how life works".
"I thought Billy did well. It was a good fight up until that point," he added.
"He was making it awkward and then the punch happened and Mark [Tibbs, trainer] had to stop the fight."
"I stand by that 100 per cent," Dubois went on.
"He made his decision really quickly but I’m not going to rub it in for Billy.
You fought well @bjsaunders_ hope your eye heels up quickly and you can come back stronger champ ????????
"He will be going through it now with the eye injury and [how] the fight ended," the Londoner predicted.
Asked whether Saunders might have been instilled with a sense of humility following his Cinco de Mayo pummeling in front of a 73,000 capacity crowd mostly cheering for his Mexican foe, Dubois was affirmative.
"Maybe this might teach him something. It could be a life lesson really or whatever," he suggested.
Coincidentally, Dubois will start work with Tibbs soon as he plans his comeback to the ring on June 5 against the durable Romanian brawler Bogdan Dinu.
But there will be no hard feelings with Saunders or any other fighters that voiced their views on his Joyce loss.
— Boxing on BT Sport ???? (@BTSportBoxing) May 10, 2021
"Fighting is that sort of sport. Fighters go in and put their lives on the line, it’s within their right to say things like that," Dubois pointed out.
"With a fighter, I’m not really bothered. Fighters can say what they want. Sometimes it can make a fight interesting or make a story around a fight interesting if we are fighting each other."
"If they want to call me a quitter or whatever, it is what it is," Dubois said.
"Any loss, stoppage or whatever is going to be a depressing thing for any fighter [if] you are going through it now," it was added on what Saunders might be dealing with as he recovers.
"I’m not sure what type of injury and how bad it is, I’ve heard it is bad. Will he come back? We will see, but I’m sure he can.
"I never let that thought get in my mind," Dubois insisted.
"It was going around, a lot of people were saying [I was going to retire], but I never once doubted that I was going to fight again," he finished.
