In a shocker of a fight, IVF heavyweight champion, Daniel Dubois trumped the former king, Anthony Joshua to deny his Wembley homecoming. In his first title defense, the 27-year-old delivered a fifth-round KO in front of a record 96,000-strong crowd.
While the young gun’s performance was admirable, former undisputed champion, Lennox Lewis identified the chink in Joshua’s armor, exposing how he invited trouble on multiple occasions.
During his post-fight analysis on TNT Sports, the 59-year-old dissected how Dubois was finding Joshua’s chin.
“There’s a lot we can see about the fight that happened you know, AJ did come out even with his chin up a little bit and I was like, Awww, I need to put that chin down,’ because against a right-handed boxer where he’s been drawing right hands knocking out people all the time, that’s opening the door for him by keeping your chin up. So, I know Daniel Dubois was looking at him and saying, ‘Okay, there’s a chin for me, let me throw that right hand.'”
As per the veteran, Joshua‘s chin was up almost all the time, inviting the missile of a rear hand from Dubois who gracefully found it over four times. The former two-time champion was dropped in the opening round, then in the third and fourth rounds but managed to survive the count on both occasions.
However, he went face first into the canvas in the fifth after a massive right hand from the fellow Brit connected perfectly with Joshua’s chin and could not continue and Dubois celebrated defending his world title in front of 96,000 fans at Wembley.
In the aftermath, Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn made a major update, revealing that the 34-year-old might use his contract to exercise an immediate re-match, teasing an upcoming fight with Riyadh Season and His Excellency, Turki Alalshikh.
AJ might pursue re-match, says Eddie Hearn
Daniel’s Saturday shocker was a reality check for many who counted the champ out. He not only proved himself in the biggest stage of his career but he did that in stellar fashion, laying out a prime Joshua. In fact, Joshua was floored multiple times as mentioned above but a decisive moment gave a small breakthrough to the 34-year-old who seemed to have wobbled Dubois.
DANIEL DUBOIS KNOCKS DOWN ANTHONY JOSHUA AT THE END OF THE FIRST ROUND!!!#JoshuaDubois #Boxingpic.twitter.com/V4hdPuOX00
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) September 21, 2024
Pressing on, Joshua persuaded the champion with his hands down with his chin up, making himself a target.
Dubois on the other hand, exploited this fragility and caught the former champ with a nuclear right hand that sealed the deal.
Addressing the media in the post-fight press conference, Matchroom Boxing promoter Hearn clarified his fighter’s position regarding a rematch. He said,
“I think he [Joshua] will exercise that rematch clause, I think that’s a given. He’ll need a rest and it’s a dangerous fight, this guy is growing in confidence all the time.”
Who do you think walks out off the rematch? Do let us know.