Daniel Dubois responds to Saunders defeat after he called him a quitter

He would have been justified in shoving Billy Joe Saunders’ quitter taunts back down his throat, but Daniel Dubois has too much class.

Dubois refused to join the chorus of criticism aimed at Saunders after he went out on his stool rather than his shield against Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.

He chose not to hit back at Saunders, even though he accused him of quitting against Joe Joyce when he went down on one knee because of a double fracture to his left eye socket.

Instead the former British and Commonwealth heavyweight champ praised Saunders’ display and wished him a speedy recovery following surgery on his shattered right eye socket.

“All this quitter talk, I don’t know about that,” he said. “I saw what I saw and I thought Billy fought well.

“He got that bad eye injury and he couldn’t continue.

“I think his corner made the right call. Mark Tibbs made the decision. He knows Billy very well and I’m sure that was the right decision.”

Dubois’ reaction may be coloured by the fact Saunders is his gym-mate and he joined up with Mark and his dad Jimmy in February.

Dubois feels Saunders can take inspiration from his recovery and he returns against Bogdan Dinu on June 5 in a clash for the vacant interim WBA title, seven month after his shattering loss to Joyce.

“Yeah, look at me now,” he said. “I’m on it, I’m 100 per cent on it.

“I’m ready and raring to go. I’m in training for my next fight and it’s all systems go.

“I’ve fully recovered from my eye injury, so I’m ready.”

Dubois, 23, was shocked by the level of criticism he faced after he lost his unbeaten record to Joyce and says he developed a “stone heart” to cope.

“I’ve learnt about how boxing works,” he said. “I knew about some of it before, but this time it happened to me.

“I’ve just had to deal with it and come through it.”

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