Daniel Dubois took the knee in the 10th round of his British, Commonwealth, and European heavyweight title bout in London on Saturday night during his fight against Joe Joyce.

Former cruiserweight and heavyweight fighter Tony Bellew said after the fight: “It just doesn’t look good, the way he took a knee. As a fighter, you want to go out on your shield. I would prefer to go out on my shield rather than stop the fight like that. Look at David Haye and the courage he had to fight on one leg. He was still throwing punches. He’s a warrior.”

Daniel had suffered a broken orbital bone and nerve damage around his left eye but faced initial criticism for ‘quitting’ the fight rather than continuing until his corner or the referee stopped it.

However, Luke Griggs, the deputy chief executive of the Headway charity has criticized Daniel Dubois’s decision for stopping his fight with Joe Joyce as “dangerous and irresponsible”.