Ex-Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois opponent has ear ripped off during brutal bare-knuckle boxing fight

A bare-knuckle boxing bout ended in gruesome fashion on Saturday night when a fighter’s ear ripped open.

The incident occurred during a bridgerweight contest between former gloved pro Dorian Darch and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Skurtu at the Vale Sports Arena in Cardiff on the main card of BYB 30.

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Darch, who fought Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois during his 25-fight (12-12-1) stint in the paid ranks, got off to a great start as he decked Skurtu with a thudding right hand inside the opening 30 seconds.

To the Ukrainian’s credit, he made his way back to his feet and when he did, he landed a blow to Darch’s left ear that split it in half.

Darch marched forward unfazed as claret poured down his chest but upon noticing the extent of the injury, referee Wayne Spinola called a halt to proceedings to allow the doctors to inspect the wound.

When they did, the fight was waved off immediately, with Darch’s ear looking as though it had been hacked apart by a knife.

Overcome with frustration, Darch let out a blood-curdling roar while Skurtu lept up onto the ropes in celebration.

This isn’t the first time Darch’s night has ended prematurely in bare-knuckle boxing.

The Welshman has competed four times (1-3) in the brutal sport with all three of his losses coming via doctor’s stoppage.

He won his debut in March 2021 by blasting out Mason Shaw inside two rounds and was then elevated into a heavyweight world title fight against Jody Meikle 10 months later.

Darch won almost every second of the contest up until the fourth round when the fight was stopped due to a deep gash under his left eye.

It was a similar story when he fought Ryan Barrett for the British cruiserweight strap in June 2022 with Darch getting the better of proceedings before the fight was called off in the third stanza due to a pair of bad cuts above both his eyes.

*GRAPHIC WARNING*

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Darch is the first to admit he has ‘skin like tracing paper’ and at 40 years old he will be left questioning where he goes from here.

If this is to be his final fight then Darch can look back at his career with pride.

The Aberdare journeyman never shied away from a challenge and shared the ring with a who’s who of great heavyweights.

One of his first assignments as an away fighter came against Joshua in 2014, two years removed from AJ’s Olympic Gold.

Many opponents turned down the Watford powerhouse but Darch accepted the call in a heartbeat.

He was grossly overmatched but slugged it out with Joshua for two rounds before referee Terry O’Connor stepped in and waved off the contest after ‘Dark Fruits’ was caught on unsteady legs by a left hook.

Three years later he fought Dubois in ‘Triple D’s’ sixth professional outing and succumbed to the same fate, while he also went the distance with Hughie Fury and duked it out with Eddie Chambers along the way.