Daniel Dubois held on to his WBA ‘regular’ heavyweight title in remarkable circumstances, as he climbed off the floor three times in the first round having seemingly injured his knee to stop Kevin Lerena in the third round on the Fury-Chisora bill in Tottenham.

Dubois was knocked down by a left hook and they seemed to take a knee twice, but somehow turned the fight around as Lerena did not go for broke in the second, allowing Dubois to find his feet and drop and then stop the South African in the third.

Lerena, a former cruiserweight, looked hand picked to make Dubois look good, but ended up almost producing a huge shock.

There was plenty to like about Lerena, but his lack of size stood out. And while he had beaten two huge former world heavyweight title challengers in Bogdan Dinu and Mariusz Wach, both of whom lack speed.

Dubois might not be the biggest heavyweight out there, but he is a solid specimen and has great handspeed for a big man.

Both seemed content to size each other up in the first round, but after Dubois threw three quick punches, he was caught by a left over the top and his legs went as he tumbled to the floor. Quite what was wrong with Dubois was not immediately obvious, but then as Lerena tried to land again, Dubois took a knee.

With the second running out in the round, Dubois missed with a left and took a knee again for another count. When he got back to his corner, Dubois indicated that his right knee was injured.

But there was to be no onslaught in the second from the South African, who looked content to bide his time as Dubois looked uncomfortable, although he rode a solid left cross from Lerena quite well. Lerena was content to stalk but Dubois landed a decent hook and uppercut before the round ended.

In the third, Dubois was still light on his feet and throwing more punches. Lerena was doing next to nothing but, two minutes into the round, Dubois landed a solid right that dropped Lerena.

There was going to be no waiting by Dubois as he went in to finish the job. Lerena survived the initial attack, but as Dubois unloaded, a massive uppercut landed just after the ten-second warning for the end of the round.

Lerena looked badly hurt and Dubois piled into Lerena, landing two more big punches that sent Lerena falling to the floor by the ropes as referee Howard Foster dived in to stop it. The official timing of the stoppage was 3:00 of the round.

Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.