Boxing history tells a nuanced tale when it comes to quitting fights | Kevin Mitchell


Daniel Dubois broke The Code but so did some of the hardest men ever, including Roberto Duran and Mike Tyson

When Daniel Dubois quit in the 10th round against Joe Joyce, the young heavyweight with the kind face and a good heart was hurled into a pit of shame alongside some of the hardest men in the history of boxing, Roberto Duran and Mike Tyson among them.

The public court of social media – the modern equivalent of Robespierre’s revolutionary tribunal – pronounced that Dubois had committed the fight game’s unforgivable sin. The panel, surprisingly to some, included members of his own tribe: Dillian Whyte, David Haye, Johnny Nelson, Carl Frampton and others familiar with the reality of the ring. He had broken The Code.

Related: Brain injury charity calls criticism of Daniel Dubois 'irresponsible'

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