By: Sean Crose

If the Oasis show and the fireworks weren’t enough to get the excitement going on Saturday, the heavyweight title fight between Daniel Dubois and Anthony Joshua promised to be a huge hit. These were the two biggest names in boxing’s biggest division, fighting in their own country. Indeed, nearly 100,000 people (you read that right) packed into Wembley Stadium in London, England to watch the two men fight for the IBF heavyweight title. It’s no wonder the legendary band and all the bells and whistles that advanced technology could offer got the crowd pumped up. Promoted by Saudi sports chief Turki Alalshikh, this was, to say the least, a HUGE. SPORTS. EVENT.

But it all came down to the fight – a 12-round fight between two highly skilled, hard-hitting professionals, ready to answer the question of who was the better man. Dubois landed tough almost immediately in the first round. But Joshua was able to land his punches well throughout the entire chapter. Then, as the round drew to a close, Joshua was sent to the mat. Joshua beat the count, but Dubois continued to pummel the two-time champion in the second round. Again, Joshua survived the round – but Dubois’s jabs and power punches proved effective.

Joshua landed a good punch in the third round – before being knocked down again before the bell. He got back to his feet to beat the count. Joshua went down for the third time in the first fifteen seconds of the fourth round. After getting back up, he went down again, thanks to a slip. No matter. The statuesque Englishman was being whipped by his countryman. The fight was over in the fifth round.

Joshua, to his credit, managed to take Dubois down in the final round. But chasing his opponent into the corner, the tough Joshua was sent to the ground by a devastatingly brief, correct and powerful right from Dubois, straight out of the Joe Louis playbook. The referee didn’t have to count – but he did anyway. Suffice it to say Joshua couldn’t get back to his feet in time. It was a stunningly one-sided fight.

“Aren’t you having fun?” Dubois asked the crowd afterward, imitating Russell Crowe’s renowned line from the film. “I’m a gladiator. I’m a warrior, to the end, to the bitter end.” Having now defeated Joshua and possibly Oleksandr Usyk, Dubois is undoubtedly in the running to become the undisputed heavyweight king. Dubois, who has been largely sidelined in conversations about the best heavyweights, is now clearly part of the conversation… and an critical one at that.

IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois knocked down Anthony Joshua four times and crushed his fellow Londoner in five incredible rounds at Wembley Stadium.

Dubois was in control, but moments before the fight was stopped, Joshua cracked Dubois and hurt him with three powerful right hooks. Then, when Dubois threw two of his own in return, Joshua fell face down, his dreams of becoming a three-time heavyweight champion vanishing into the London air after 59 seconds of the fifth round.

“Aren’t you having fun?” shouted a delighted Dubois, who now has a record of 22-2 (20 KOs).

Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk had already been in the ring for months before their rematch in Saudi Arabia in December, and Dubois threw the rest of the heavyweights into the blender by catching Joshua off guard in such emphatic fashion.

Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) showed heart, courage and determination, but refused to be deterred by the disastrous start.

In front of an electrifying crowd and tens of thousands of fans, Dubois – the titleholder – took on the unusual position of the challenger coming out first, similar to what happened earlier in the evening when Hamzah Sheeraz came out to stop Tyler Denny.

Dubois landed the first good right hook of the fight, supporting himself with a brutal, powerful jab from the outset.

Joshua landed an overhand right with a minute left in the session. Dubois looked out of the ring after receiving a crushing right hook and before Joshua connected with a powerful right hook that floored the former Olympic champion.

Joshua tried to stay serene, but Dubois surged forward, caught Joshua with a powerful right and began pummeling him with both hands.

Wembley fell into a stunned silence. Joshua looked heavy-legged and forced to hold on. Dubois snapped AJ’s head back with a punch, and Dubois, a man whose temperament had so often been questioned, looked uplifted, confident and in charge.

The key was the punch. Dubois was able to time Joshua and get a punch in when they both threw at the same time. Tardy in the second round, Dubois took a shot because he was a little overconfident, but Dubois came out of the blocks again in the third round.

Jab, double jab, Dubois landing long punches. And he landed a right hand, too. Joshua tried to get some life back into his legs. He looked for the right hook, the punch that almost landed Wladimir Klitschko on a similarly intoxicating night at Wembley in 2017.

That night Joshua was also transferred to the canvas, but this time the ending was completely different.

Tardy in the session, Dubois surged forward. He landed meaty punches, and Joshua began to fall apart. His trembling legs sent him staggering back toward the ropes, and Dubois pounced.

Joshua, back on the ropes, covered up, but Dubois kept going. Sensing his moment, he threw punches with both hands, and Joshua fell once more.

He touched the ground with his glove, which started the countdown, but referee Marcus McDonnell allowed the fight to continue and ordered his colleague to stop, and Dubois showed no mercy.

Joshua didn’t recover until the fourth round began. He was on the ground almost from Dubois’ first punches, and when Joshua slid to the mat, many thought the fight was over – but Joshua got back to his feet. There, he staggered through the fight, clinging to his chance to become a three-time heavyweight champion.

Joshua was very brave and courageous. He stubbornly accepted a nonchalant expression on his face, but he was in a terrible state, having huge shots. Somehow he survived this stormy fourth.

He lost in the first, second and fourth rounds.

“Fucking warrior spirit,” AJ’s trainer, Ben Davison, said between rounds.

“One hundred percent,” Joshua replied.

“Start mixing it up,” Davison urged.

Joshua looked relatively keen early in the fifth and landed a powerful right hook that wobbled Dubois. He landed a few more punches on Dubois, and as Joshua got greedy, Dubois crushed the charging Joshua with a devastating right hook, then finished him with another right—the kind of devastating finisher that will happily go down in the annals of time and highlight reels alongside the devastating punches landed by Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, George Foreman, and Mike Tyson.

Joshua lunged forward, face first. Marcus McDonnell counted him out, and the crowd rose as one, shocked and horrified by the violence they were witnessing.

Unbelievable. This turned into a heavyweight shootout for the ages.

Dubois, 27, who has fought just 90 rounds in competition and lost to Joe Joyce and Usyk, shook up Anthony Joshua. He shook up the status quo of the division. And yes, he shook up the boxing world.

Anthony Joshua returns to Wembley Stadium in London for the fourth time to face IBF heavyweight world champion Daniel Dubois on Saturday (DAZN PPV).

Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) from Watford, England, is a two-time heavyweight champion. He won the IBF title in 2016 by defeating Charles Martin, became a three-belt unified champion by defeating Wladimir Klitschko in ESPN’s Fight of the Year in 2017, and in 2018 he took the WBO title from Joseph Parker.

Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs), from London, is a former IBF interim champion who was elevated to full champion after Oleksandr Usyk vacated the belt in June to allow for a rematch with Tyson Fury.

Also on the card, Joshua Buatsi will face Willy Hutchinson in a 12-round fight for the vacant WBO interim featherlight heavyweight title. Buatsi (18-0, 13 KOs), from Accra, Ghana, now based in London, has won 13 of his first 15 fights by knockout but has gone the distance in his last three, including a dominant performance against Dan Azeez in February.

Hutchinson (18-1, 13 KOs), from Carstairs, Scotland, was quickly rising through the ranks of the UK boxing world until March 2021, when he lost by fifth-round TKO to Lennox Clarke. Hutchinson recovered and won his next five fights.

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