FRANK WARREN has labelled Eddie Hearn’s bid to cast doubt over Daniel Dubois’ career-threatening injury as ‘c***ish’.
Following the Saturday night round-ten stoppage loss to Joe Joyce, the 23-year-old is nursing a broken orbital and a bleeding left retina.
Half of the boxing community has rallied around the broken young heavyweight, who seemed to suffer the crucial blow in the third, while another section of former fighters has labelled him a quitter.
Warren admits he has been guilty of questioning rival fighters’ courage in the past but the Queensbury promoter went X-rated on Hearn’s suggestion that Team Dubois are lying about the injury.
“I’ve been at a fight before and said ‘he’s swallowed’, I’ve been guilty of that,” Warren confirmed.
“But if someone is injured and afterwards you have some t*** sitting in his office saying we are all lying about it, I find that a real personal affront. It is a c***ish thing to say about a fighter.
“It is all very well and wise to be clever after the event but who gives a f***ing s*** what Hearn says? Who is he to believe anything?
“I do not agree in any shape or form that a fighter should be in there to give his life or inflict life or career-damaging injuries to satisfy some t***, so he can go and pass judgement on bravery.
“Daniel’s Peacock Gym has a statue outside for a young man, called Bradley Stone, who gave his life to boxing.
“So we could do without Hearn’s ill-advised and stupid comments because saying somebody is lying about an injury, as serious as this, just shows you how naïve and stupid he is.”
Warren also urged his bitter rival to remember Anthony Joshua getting pounded by Andy Ruiz Jr in New York last year.
AJ was stopped on his feet in round seven, when he failed to walk toward the referee on instruction, and was rightly commended for battling on from round three with a concussion.
Warren said: “I didn’t doubt for one minute that Anthony Joshua didn’t want to go on, the referee asked him and he didn’t want to .
“But I didn’t say he was lying about being concussed. To say what Hearn said is outrageous.”
Dubois now faces an agonising wait to find out if he needs surgery to repair the cheekbone damage and possibly a titanium plate like former welterweight world champion Kell Brook, who suffered similar injuries to both eyes.
Anthony Ogogo, the 2012 Olympic bronze winner who lost sight in one eye after an identical 2016 injury – that he now regrets fighting on with – has reached out to Dubois out on social media to offer support.
And eye specialist Dr Rahila Zakir, from the Western Eye hospital in London, is waiting for the painful swelling to go down before making a crucial decision on Dubois’ career.
Warren added: “The doctors have said, if he had carried on, there was a strong chance of losing or having problems with his eyesight.
“He would have been in the same position as Anthony Ogogo basically.
“Daniel was feeling that pain from early in the fight. Rather than people criticising him, go back and watch the fight. His eye was closed for at least three rounds. He was in a lot of pain.
“He did the right thing and I’m glad he did it. I always err on the side of being safe rather than sorry.
“We can all point fingers but it should be about the fighter’s safety.
“Anyone who thinks a boxer has to lose his eyesight to prove a point does not deserve to play any part in this sport.”
