Liam Gallagher warmed up the post-WWII boxing record crowd of over 96,000 fans at Wembley Stadium in London; however, Daniel Dubois (22-2) was the one who felt supersonic at the end of the night.
Anthony Joshua (28-4) was the betting favorite and crowd favorite against fellow Brit Daniel Dubois. Dubois made those feelings irrelevant in a five-round beating of Joshua.
From the opening bell, Dubois took it to Joshua. The younger Dubois was on the front foot from the opening bell; he was faster, stronger, and had a better game plan than Joshua on this night. Dubois knocked Joshua down in the first, third and fourth rounds before dropping Anthony Joshua in the fifth round to end the fight. Emerging from his corner before the fourth and fifth rounds, Joshua looked like a deer in the headlights. Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s longtime promoter, was shown in the crowd between rounds and had an unmistakable look of concern.
Joshua had some success with his powerful jab, but his best flurry of the fight came in the final seconds of the action, just before two right hands from Dubois flailed and then floored Joshua.
It looked like Joshua might have turned his career around before last night; since the consecutive defeat of Oleksandr Usyk in 2021 and 2022, Anthony Joshua had won four consecutive fights. He won a decision over Jermaine Franklin before defeating Robert Helenius, Otto Wallin and mixed martial artist Francis Ngannou. The old AJ was back, according to some. Had he won that fight, Joshua would have faced the winner of the December rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury in 2025 for the undisputed heavyweight championship. Now, Daniel Dubois will have this opportunity.
Dubois, 27, was a highly touted British heavyweight prospect like Anthony Joshua. Dubois has two pro losses. In November 2020, he lost a barnburner of a fight against Joe Joyce in which he was leading on two of three scorecards before succumbing to a fractured left eye socket in the tenth round. The other loss was last August against Oleksandr Usyk. In that fight, Dubois knocked Usyk down in the fifth round with a punch that appeared to be a legal punch, landing on Usyk’s belt. However, referee Luis Pablon ruled that the shot was below the waist line, nullifying the knockdown and giving Usyk the time he needed to recover. Usyk went on to stop Dubois in the ninth round to retain his undisputed heavyweight championship.
Joshua, who turns 35 in mid-October, has one hell of a mid-life crisis to contemplate. With career earnings from his fights and endorsement deals, Joshua will never have to work another day in his life. Although Joshua was a late starter in the sport, he has been boxing since the age of eighteen. For almost half of his life, the wrestling game is all he has known. His life consists of countless hours of grueling training sessions. Joshua has had the weight of the UK on his shoulders since winning the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics.
Anthony Joshua dismissed the thought of retirement immediately after his defeat, saying he is a warrior. Promoter Eddie Hearn elaborated, saying: “Everyone is very fickle, aren’t they? Yesterday, he was in the form of his life and he has never looked better – wow, this is incredible, this new revival. He has a bad start , he fell, he tried to recover his feet, and he found a way back in the fight and walked on one. That was the danger of this fight thriller, and we just felt that the tide was about to change, but you have to give credit to Daniel.”
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In Andy Clarke’s fantastic book Knockout, veteran boxing journalist Steve Bunce said, “You can come back from a knockout, but it depends when that knockout comes.”
On June 1, 2019, there should be a coronation for Anthony Joshua. His first fight in the United States was in the hallowed grounds of Madison Square Garden. He was facing Andy Ruiz, a little-known substitute opponent who was a 25-1 underdog. Of course, instead of Joshua making a name for himself in America, Ruiz upset the apple cart. He took Joshua’s heavyweight crown and his career momentum. Since that fateful night five years ago, after starting his career 22-0, Anthony Joshua has a record of 6-4 in his last ten fights.
Anthony Joshua’s career arc has shades of a famous British literary character:
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a big fall.
All the King’s horses, And all the King’s men
I couldn’t get Humpty together.
Like Humpty Dumpty, Anthony Joshua will live on in English lore long after he is gone. Fairly or unfairly, Joshua’s career will be synonymous with what happened in his first fight with Andy Ruiz and the career upheaval that resulted.
In the midst of all the histrionics about Anthony Joshua, we must not forget that this night was about Daniel Dubois. He bounced back from what could have been a career-defining defeat to Joe Joyce to become arguably the most dangerous man in heavyweight boxing.
In the ring after the victory, Dubois said: “This is my time, my story of redemption. I will not stop until I reach my full potential.”
