Various versions of what Daniel Dubois did to Anthony Joshua during one of their numerous sparring sessions seven years ago were told during the buildup to Saturday’s heavyweight title fight.
Joshua took exception to rumors Dubois hurt him badly back when Joshua was already the IBF heavyweight champion and a green but dangerous Dubois had just begun his professional career. Few people know what truly took place behind closed doors between the two.
When it mattered most Saturday, and with the whole boxing world watching, Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) destroyed the favored Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) and eliminated any doubt about his ability to take out the biggest British star this sport has ever developed. There is no denying Dubois’ status as an elite-level heavyweight anymore, not even for the streaking knockout artist’s harshest critics.
Dubois’ legacy-changing performance — an emphatic fifth-round knockout before a record capacity crowd of approximately 96,000 at Wembley Stadium in London — sent shockwaves through the heavyweight division and an industry that widely expected Joshua to defeat Dubois and move on to face the winner of December’s Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury rematch.
A rejuvenated Joshua had won four straight fights since his 12-round, split decision defeat to Usyk in their rematch 25 months ago in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The two-time champion produced the final three of those wins by knockout, including a second-round obliteration of former UFC champ Francis Ngannou, who stunningly gave Fury a difficult fight in a split decision loss in his prior appearance.
Joshua turns 35 next month, but BetMGM listed the 2012 Olympic gold medalist as a 4-to-1 favorite over Dubois. The 27-year-old Dubois entered the ring as the IBF champion, but was elevated from interim champion following his eighth-round stoppage of Croatian contender Filip Hrgovic on June 1 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Skeptics also dismissed Dubois as a quitter following his 10th-round knockout loss to Joe Joyce in 2020. Dubois took a knee and didn’t attempt to beat the count that night in London after his left eye was swollen shut by Joyce’s jab.
It took longer for Dubois’ damaged psyche to heal than the fractured orbital bone he suffered against Joyce. His resilience served the London native well against Joshua, though.
When Joshua’s right hand briefly threatened to ruin Dubois’ redemptive performance early in the fifth round, a determined Dubois quickly blasted Joshua with another right hand of his own that sent Joshua to the canvas for the third time in their pay-per-view main event.
A courageous Joshua tried to get up again, this time off his side, but he couldn’t beat referee Marcus McDonnell’s count. Finally, almost four years after his infamous failure against Joyce and a year following his August 2023 knockout loss to Usyk, Dubois delivered the type of epic performance British boxing fans envisioned when he first climbed the heavyweight ranks.
“It was a phenomenal fight,” Frank Warren, Dubois’ promoter, told DAZN’s Ade Oladipo after the fight. “And I’ve always felt it would be a Hagler-Hearns situation, and that’s what it was. Two guys give everything. It takes two people to make a fight like that, a great champion and AJ. AJ absolutely came through it, showed his heart right to the end, but it was just a brilliant, brilliant fight.
“I’ve had faith in [Dubois] from the beginning. I’ve always felt he would do it, and he’s done it.”
Dubois’ detractors understandably wondered whether the 6-foot-5, 250-pound power-puncher would “do it” on the biggest stage.
The Joyce disaster was tough enough to overcome. Dubois’ physical and mental meltdown during his ninth-round knockout loss to Usyk provided additional evidence that he couldn’t fight through adversity and conquer championship-caliber heavyweights.
Dubois drilled Joshua with right hand toward the end of the first round, however, that began altering the narrative of his star-crossed career. Joshua rose off one knee before McDonnell counted to 10 and the bell sounded before Dubois could capitalize on hurting him again.
But the former champion hadn’t recovered by the time the second round began. Dubois buzzed Joshua again early in that round with a left hook to the side of his head. Joshua withstood Dubois’ onslaught and made it to the third round, however another left hook by Dubois sent Joshua down again just before the end of the third round. Two rounds later, Dubois accomplished what few expected.
“It was a huge right hand that AJ [took] in the first round,” said Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter. “And after that, he was fighting on heart and desire. I’m so proud of him because he never gave up. His legs were deceiving him and he just kept on trying. And at the end of the fourth round, he hurt Daniel Dubois. And in the fifth round, he really hurt Daniel Dubois. And then he got greedy and walked straight [into] a right hand, and that’s all she wrote.
“When you’re in there with a massive puncher, this is what can happen. But AJ never gave up. He never stopped trying to get up, even when he couldn’t get up. Congratulations to Daniel Dubois, because people doubted him. He was the champion, but really the B side coming into the fight. And he deserves credit now as a real world champion, because that was a great performance.”
Joshua can exercise a rematch clause in his contract to fight Dubois again now that the two higher-profile fights he wanted against Usyk and Fury aren’t realistic anymore. Dubois must wait on Joshua’s decision to determine whether his own rematch versus Usyk or a showdown with Fury could be next for him sometime in the first half of 2025.
“I’ve just been on a rollercoaster ride,” Dubois said. “This is my time. That’s my redemption story, and I’m not going to stop until I’ve reached my full potential.”
After more ups and downs than Dubois cares to recall, that goal finally feels realistic after his legacy-changing knockout of Joshua on Saturday night.
