KSI elbow DQ: Why is the KO being considered illegal? Boxing rules explained

Many believe KSI's illegal elbow KO over Joe Fournier should have ended in a DQ. The British rapper took on Fournier in boxing match on Saturday, scheduled for eight rounds at the OVO Arena Wembley.

KSI came out as the early aggresor, stalking his opponent right from the get-go. While Fournier tried to assert himself in the second round, the 40-year-old was stunned by a huge overhand right from the rapper.

Smelling blood, KSI went for the finish and knocked Fournier out, but unfortunately landed an an illegal elbow. While the elbow was seemingly unintentional, many including rival Jake Paul believe the rapper should have suffered a DQ for the blatant foul.

With the matter up for debate, let's explore the rules of boxing pertaining to a potential DQ via an illegal elbow.

An elbow strike is completely illegal in boxing including strikes with the forearm, shoulders or headbutts. An elbow can only be used as a passive defense against punches where one can block their opponents strikes with elbows but not actively hit their opponents punches with elbows. A boxer is essentially allowed to hit his opponent only with the padded side of the gloves.

Image courtesy: @telegraph.co.uk

Considering the evident foul, it is upon the discretion of the referee to deduct a point, call for a no contest or disqualify the person who committed the foul, depending on the severity and intention of the act.

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KSI elbow DQ: Promoter grossly downplays foul

Regardless of whether it was unintentional, it was definitely an elbow from KSI that knocked out Joe Fournier on the Misfits boxing card last Saturday.

However, the British rapper did not seem much concerned about it immediately after the fight. He said during the post-fight presser before being interuppted by his promoter Kalle Sauerland:

"Honestly, it was so fast that I didn't even think that I hit him with an elbow."

Sauerland took it a step further, trying to downplay the situation, saying:

"There was a follow through you can see it's not an elbow, it's more of a forearm that comes across it, that happens in big fights."

While a forearm wouldn't have made it any better, Sauerland worsened it for himself by citing Liam Smith's illegal elbow TKO win over Chris Eubanks Jr. as an example of it being common in boxing.

Catch Sauerland's comments below:

Fournier has now appealed his loss to KSI and the matter in being reviewed by the PBA with a decision to be made by Friday, 19 May.