Eddie Hearn has revealed that Anthony Joshua has a rematch clause to force a second fight against IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois after being knocked out in the fifth round by him on Saturday night in London.
Hearn did not say whether Joshua (28-4, 23 KOs) would activate the rematch clause immediately or later. Joshua will need to consider this decision carefully as he did not look good tonight, getting knocked down repeatedly in the short five round fight.
AJ’s trainer, Ben Davison, jumped into the ring after he was counted out in the fifth round. This move showed that Davison felt that Joshua had taken enough punishment from Dubois, and did not want the fight to continue.
The 27-year-old Dubois had youth on his side tonight, beating the living daylights out of the 34-year-old Joshua, who was nothing like the fighter he had been during his prime. .
Age seemed to have caught up with Joshua tonight, with him looking sluggish and his punch resistance gone.
“Aren’t you amused? I’m a gladiator, I’m a warrior to the bitter end and I’m ready to go. This is my time, this is my redemption story, and I’m not going to stop until I I’m reaching my full potential,” said Daniel Dubous after the fight.
Joshua apparently never recovered from a first round knockdown he suffered last night. In the final seconds of the first round, Dubois connected with a short right hand that he didn’t expect, and the punch looked like it might have concussed the former champion. After that round, Joshua was on skates in rounds two, three, four and five.
Dubois put Joshua down with a blistering punch in the third round, and it’s unclear how AJ survived because he wasn’t in good shape after getting to his feet. Joshua took him down in the fourth and then again in the fifth round.
There was brief hope for Joshua in the fifth when he landed a scorching right that shook Dubois to his boots, causing his legs to instantly turn to jelly. Dubois retreated to the ropes in what looked like a ground stand to him. Joshua charged forward, throwing bombs.
Dubois threw a nice right hand that missed, but was thrown with a lot of power. Joshua should have noticed that Dubois was still alive and played it safe, but he didn’t.
Instead, AJ threw a hard right hand that Dubous countered with a short punch that connected like a ton of bricks on his chin, putting him down. The fight was then stopped at 0:59 of round five.
