Daniel Dubois dealt the Kiss of Death to Anthony Joshua’s world heavyweight title dream and his heavyweight career with a devastating fifth-round knockout. Triple D dropped the former two-time world champ with a heavy right hook in the first round and continued his momentum into the second, dazing AJ and drawing loud gasps from the 96,000-strong Wembley crowd.
Dubois’ vicious assault didn’t stop there, as a left hook sent Joshua stumbling into the ropes behind him. Joshua was saved by the bell but he had to drag his battered and bruised 252.5lb frame off the canvas.
The knockdowns kept coming in the fourth but Joshua remained his usual confident self, beating his chest before meeting Dubois in the middle of the ring again. But it was in the fifth where Dubois put AJ’s lights out after surviving a rare flurry from the former champ.
AJ was left lifeless, crumpled and curled after Dubois landed flush on his chin. He walked into a right hand and that was all she wrote. Joshua’s body stirred but couldn’t physically pick itself up, staying face down, and the fight called.
A stronger message couldn’t have been sent to undefeated WBC, WBA, and WBO world champ Oleksandr Usyk, and Tyson Fury, who sat ringside, stunned. There’s a new kid on the block and Dubois will be chomping at the bit for another shot at the Ukrainian, who beat him just 11 months ago.
Dubois made his way to the squared circle with audible boos but he leaves Wembley Stadium with rapturous cheers and still IBF King. British Boxing has another heavyweight hero to cheer on, and the changing of the guard is complete.
Such a devastating defeat ends careers, and Joshua is staring reality in the face. The 34-year-old had aspirations of a third fight with Usyk, and potentially a throw-down with Fury. Those fights will sell on name alone should he continue – but without a world strap around his shoulder and his four-fight win streak shattered they could be hard to make.
Joshua bounced back from the shock defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr. in New York in 2019. Back-to-back losses to Usyk forced him to reinvent himself. He looked like he’d reclimb the heavyweight Mount Everest – but a series of slips and mistakes tonight have sent him tumbling down into the abyss.
Joshua does have a rematch clause against Dubois, as confirmed by Eddie Hearn, who is confident that will be exercised. But at what cost? Joshua is not the AJ of old and he’s not getting any younger. Perhaps, the mega-fight cash cow has milked its last pail.
“Credit to him and his team. We rolled the dice and we’ve come up short,” a stern-faced Joshua said after the fight. “I want to say, everyone in Wembley I appreciate you coming out this evening. You know I’m p****ed, you know I’m ready to kick off in the ring but I’m going to keep my cool, keep very professional and give my respect to my opponent.”
He added: “You know what it is? Before I came here, I’m always saying to myself I’m a fighter for life. We rolled the dice on success and we’ve just come up short. And we roll it again. You know what I mean? We keep rolling the dice.”
