By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)
Anthony Joshua fought Daniel Dubois for the IBF which really belongs to Oleksandr Usyk who was the champion and vacated since he preferred to fight Tyson Fury and not Dubois. Dubois gave Usyk a tough fight in their last bout, but Joshua was the favorite. This was supposed to put Joshua in line for a maybe a third fight with Usyk or a fight with a Fury. However, this fight turned out to be a complete disaster for Joshua as Dubois sent Joshua sprawling four times in the first round, the third round, fourth round and finally sent down for the final time in the fifth round.
In the opening round, Joshua worked his jab while Dubois attack with his hooks, and while Joshua punches were cleaning and landed a sharp upper cut, Dubois nailed Joshua with a looping right hand that sent Joshua down on wobbly legs. The bell saved Joshua.
Joshua looked shaky as the one round and Dubois landed the majority of shots as he landed four times as many punches but at least he stayed standing After two rounds, the bout was easy to score 20-17.
Joshua threw a right hand that missed but Dubois didn’t miss with his counter left and Joshua rolled backwards as Dubois landed more blows that left Joshua taking a count and now Dubois had a 30-25 score.
Joshua looked even shakier in the fourth round and a couple of glancing blows sent Joshua for the third time. After four rounds, Joshua was down 40-33 and it was self-evident that the odds this fight would go the distance was not good and in the fifth round, the end came.
Joshua attacked with jabs and trying to change the tide of the bout when Dubois landed a right to the jaw and Joshua simply collapsed to the canvas. The bout ended. Four knockdowns and complete domination.
Dubois dominated this fight as he landed 79 punches to Joshua 32 and connected on 40 percent of his punches. He averaged 18 punches connected versus six for Joshua for the first four rounds. He landed nearly 50 power shots versus only 14 for Joshua.
There is a rematch clause, and Joshua may exercise it and maybe he will hope for a repeat of the second Ruiz fight in which he found a way to win and regain his championship Dubois fight was a crushing defeat and for most fighters this could be career ending or at least a ending a fighter career as a contender but Joshua has earnings of 83 million dollars and is the second highest boxer on the list of highest paid athletes behind Canelo Alvarez.
Joshua is one of the more popular fighters and drew 96,000 fans in Wembley for his five-round battering. Dubois may opt for the winner of the Usyk-Fury fight which means Joshua may have to wait his turn after the result of the Usyk-Fury fight. For years, many British boxing fans wanted for years a Joshua-Fury fight, but it appears this is long way off.