diff --git a/torchvision/ops/giou_loss.py b/torchvision/ops/giou_loss.py
index 51290d6e48c..c320384793c 100644
--- a/torchvision/ops/giou_loss.py
+++ b/torchvision/ops/giou_loss.py
@@ -37,6 +37,13 @@ def generalized_box_iou_loss(
     x1, y1, x2, y2 = boxes1.unbind(dim=-1)
     x1g, y1g, x2g, y2g = boxes2.unbind(dim=-1)
 
+    # degenerate boxes gives inf / nan results
+    # so do an early check
+    if not ((x2 >= x1) & (y2 >= y1)).all():
+        raise ValueError("Some of the input boxes1 are invalid.")
+    if not ((x2g >= x1g) & (y2g >= y1g)).all():
+        raise ValueError("Some of the input boxes2 are invalid.")
+
     # Intersection keypoints
     xkis1 = torch.max(x1, x1g)
     ykis1 = torch.max(y1, y1g)