British heavyweight Daniel Dubois suffered a broken orbital bone and nerve damage around his left eye during his stoppage defeat to Joe Joyce.
The 23-year-old was ahead on two of the three scorecards when he was stopped by Joyce in London on Saturday.
He was taken to hospital immediately and will now get specialist advice on the injury when the swelling eases.
A group of fighters past and present said Dubois “quit” in the bout as he fell to the first defeat of his career.
It is unclear how severe the break is and how long he could be out for, though an update is expected early next week.
Britain’s Kell Brook suffered a fractured orbital bone twice – once around each eye – at the hands of Gennady Golovkin in 2017 and Errol Spence Jr in 2018.
Brook later detailed how invasive the surgery he faced was for BBC Radio 5 Live Boxing and many would argue he has not been the same fighter since.
During his recent defeat to Terence Crawford, BBC boxing correspondent Mike Costello detailed how Brook was visibly “pawing” at his eyes.
Dubois could face a challenging recovery, given the injury, but his age offers him time to fully repair both physically and mentally.
Saturday’s bout at Westminster’s Church House was seen as a ‘gateway’ fight for both men, with the winner moving on to compete against the heavyweight division’s biggest names.
The likes of former two-weight world champion Carl Frampton and British middleweight champion Matt Macklin said Dubois “quit”.
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