Oleksandr Usyk remains heavyweight champion but where does he go from here?
Daniel Dubois will appeal the final decision in his world heavyweight title fight with Oleksandr Usyk late on Saturday night in the rain in Wroclaw, Poland. Dubois went down on one knee after a jolting right jab in round nine and was counted out in that position. However, in round five he dropped Usyk with a right hand that fully landed on the Ukraine boxer’s waistband. Usyk was in agony, the referee, Luis Pabon, called “time out” and there was a wait of just under four minutes to allow Usyk sufficient time to recover. There was 2:29 left in the round when they started to fight again; the harsh truth is that Dubois let his opportunity for glory go and Usyk came back to take control. Usyk, incidentally, was badly shaken by the punch that sent him down. The controversy is simple: was the punch on the belt line of Usyk’s shorts legal or illegal? The closed fist clearly landed fully on the waistline – there is no claim that it connected with Usyk’s exposed torso, which would have settled the argument. Also, there is no claim from Usyk’s camp that it landed in the sensitive cup part of the protector; it fell in boxing’s hidden realm of interpretation. Dubois did not throw a low blow with intent and Usyk did not invent all of his pain. It is an area open to interpretation and debate. The sanctioning bodies will have to earn their fight fee now and make a ruling. “There is nothing wrong with that punch,” said Frank Warren, the promoter of Dubois. “We will be appealing the decision, this should be declared a no-contest and Daniel should get a rematch.” The referee, Warren insisted, had said at the rules meeting, a gathering held the day before the fight to highlight the fight rules, that punches on the belt line were legal. The punch was certainly no lower than the belt line. Usyk’s shorts were high enough to obscure his belly button and that is why referees often allow punches to the belt line to be considered legal. “That punch is low, look at the pictures,” said Alex Krassyuk, who is Usyk’s promoter. “That is not legal.” Usyk regained his feet, survived and won the remainder of round five, but was uncomfortable each time that Dubois targeted the body. It was an open secret that Dubois and his new coach, Don Charles, had a plan to slow down and hurt Usyk with body punches. The tactic worked, Usyk was rattled. Dubois increased the pressure in rounds six and seven, letting his hands go to body, head and waistline once again. Usyk had to be his evasive best, as smart as I have ever seen him. It was also obvious that Usyk was desperate to get Dubois out of the fight. Dubois was tiring, his left eye was starting to swell and close. It was a hard fight. There was a big Usyk finish in the seventh and Dubois had clearly slowed by round eight; Dubois was struggling, his desire in decline, his head popping back from Usyk’s stinging southpaw jabs. There were less than 10 seconds left in round eight when Dubois went down in an untidy heap; he fell to his knees trying to avoid an Usyk onslaught. He beat the count and the bell sounded. It was only a short reprieve. In the ninth round, Usyk finished the fight with a looping jab and Dubois tuned and took the final knee of the night. A round nine stoppage is a statistic that reveals very little of the fight’s drama. The waistline will be the storyline, but the finish should not be forgotten. Usyk retained his heavyweight belts, Dubois left demanding a rematch and about 40,000 fans danced in the rain as Usyk serenaded them from the ring. Tyson Fury was not ringside, but inevitably his towering presence was felt. Usyk and Fury have been on and off for about a year now; the fight boxing needs is proving hard to make. The confusion and controversy on Saturday night will not help. It often feels like Usyk, a national idol and ring genius, is chasing a roving spectre. Fury just keeps gliding in and out of the boxing shadows, hero one year, victim the next, and villain again. In Poland, as expected, Usyk was firmly under the ancient heavyweight beam and he deserves a place under that historic spotlight. Sure, he made the very most of the punch in the fifth. Dubois will get his rematch, Usyk will make his decision, and Fury will say he wants a piece of the action. It was some night in Wroclaw. Read More Major controversy as Oleksandr Usyk beats Daniel Dubois after ‘low blow’ body shot Daniel Dubois’ camp to lobby for No Contest after Oleksandr Usyk drama Robert Helenius failed drug test before fighting Anthony Joshua, Vada says
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Kris Jenner has opened up about her feelings towards Kourtney Kardashian's pregnancy announcement at Travis Barker's Blink 182 concert. Earlier this year, Kourtney made headlines for holding a sign reading 'Travis I'm Pregnant!' during his Los Angeles gig. In the finale of The Kardashians, Kris was asked whether she "enjoyed" the big reveal, to which she said "yeah". It was then that Khloe jumped in and shared that her mother had seen it on the news. The momager went on to explain the situation, saying: "We'd left the TV on the night before and woke up very early in the morning to see Kourtney holding the sign. I thought I was being punked - I was like did somebody put this up? - and then I saw it was ABC News." While Kris acknowledged she knew her daughter was pregnant, she did not expect her to announce it at the concert. Khloe claimed Kris' feelings were "really hurt," but Kourtney simply said she "forgot". "She forgot she had a family," Kris said. "That's what pregnancy brain does, it's truly wild how that happens." In another snippet, Kourtney gave her side of the story, adding: "I just truly didn't think to invite them to the LA concert and didn't think they would care to come. I did tell Khloé about it and she asked me to change it to San Diego. "[...] It's not about you. It was truly just our way to tell the world. It was about me and Travis, not about anything else." How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
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Florida schools remove books by John Milton and Toni Morrison and restrict Shakespeare under DeSantis rules
Over 150 books have been removed from a large, Orlando-area Florida school district, including classics like The Scarlet Letter, Paradise Lost, and The Invisible Man, as school officials review materials for sexual content under the state’s restrictive book ban laws. According to a teacher keeping track of books that have been temporarily pulled for review by the Orange County government, titles by Shakespeare have been restricted to only 10th through 12 graders, while other popular works like The Fault in Our Stars, Into the Wild, and Catch-22 have been put on the restricted list because of sexual material. One teacher told The Orlando Sentinel she was “gobsmacked” when she saw Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream was among the restricted works. She said she chooses works to study in class “to engage my students, to offer them literature that makes them think,” and that an accurate version of “the adolescent experience” in literature may contain some sexual themes, but still be valid for the classroom. “It’s just so frustrating and disheartening,” she said. The state’s book ban laws, passed under Republican governor Ron DeSantis, have caused empty shelves across Florida. “The books are sitting out on tables, they’re being boxed up and discarded,” Florida school librarian Keri Clark told The Independent earlier this year. “It’s just it’s a really sad sight. A lot of the kids keep looking through the window and it’s just it’s awful that I can’t let them come in and get books.” The Florida policyies are part of a nationwide surge of book bans. During the first half of the 2022-2023 school year, school officials tried to restrict at least 874 individual book titles, according to PEN America, a nearly 30 per cent spike from book challenges over the previous year. Overwhelmingly, the book ban attempts singled out works by and about people of colour and LGBT+ people, PEN found. At least 30 per cent of the impacted titles are books about race, racism, or feature characters of colour, and more than a quarter of all titles include LGBT+ characters or themes. Read More Biden condemns ‘hysterical’ threats to LGBT+ Americans as White House pushes back on book bans As conservatives target schools, LGBTQ+ kids and students of color feel less safe Florida mom who tried to ban Amanda Gorman’s book has ties to far-right groups
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