For almost the entirety of the build to Saturday’s IBF heavyweight title bout in London, the narrative of the fight surrounded just how rejuvenated and dangerous former unified champion Anthony Joshua appeared to be at age 34 following three knockout wins in 13 months.
It never seemed to matter much that Daniel Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) entered the fight as the defending champion or the fact that the 27-year-old native of London brought a 95% knockout rate to pair with his 6-foot-5 frame and two consecutive knockouts of his own since December.
If the focus wasn’t about Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs), including how he might fair against the winner of the Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury rematch in December for the other three heavyweight titles, it was the record-breaking crowd of 96,000 expected inside Wembley Stadium and what type of electric atmosphere these two athletic, super heavyweights could produce once they began exchanging heavy punches.
It turned out that the majority of boxing pundits and feature writers had the right narrative after all, they just assigned it to the wrong fighter.
While the idea of Dubois potentially knocking out Joshua on a stage this bright following an exciting slugfest wasn’t an impossible idea (he was only a 3-to-1 betting underdog, after all), it surely wasn’t a probable one, especially not in the largely one-sided manner in which the fight played out.
Dubois jumped on Joshua from quite literally the opening bell and ravaged him with power shots, which exposed a litany of technical flaws from AJ, including backing up with his hands down and his chin exposed. Dubois went on to score an insane five knockdowns in as many rounds en route to a brutal fifth-round knockout that left the jaws of nearly every single boxing fan agape following 15 minutes of pugilistic fireworks of the highest order.
For as much as Joshua’s most-recent comeback story was one worth telling, particularly due to the violent mean streak the British superstar had showcased after returning from a five-day darkness retreat last October, Dubois’ rejuvenation was just as dramatic.
Like Joshua, who was initially counted out in 2019 after his shocking TKO loss to late-replacement and massive underdog Andy Ruiz Jr., Dubois was given the label of damaged goods one year later when he lost his unbeaten record to Joe Joyce via 10th-round knockout. Even though the screams that Dubois was a “quitter” were later quieted when it was revealed he had suffered a double eye fracture in the fight, the reputational damage had already been done.
And just like Joshua, who was counted out again in 2022 after losing consecutive title bouts to Usyk after regaining his crown from Ruiz in their rematch (including an embarrassing in-ring meltdown from AJ following the second Usyk fight), Dubois endured a similar fate the following year against the dynamic southpaw from Ukraine.
Dubois thought he had knocked Usyk out in their unified title bout via body punch only for the referee to controversially rule it a low blow. But Dubois was later dropped by a jab in Round 9 and failed to rise from his knees in time to beat the count, which only refueled the idea that he lacked the toughness to be considered a true title contender.
While it’s understandable that Joshua’s recent demolitions of Otto Wallin and Francis Ngannou received far more fanfare than Dubois because of AJ’s standing as a global icon in the sport, Dubois’ finishes of unbeatens Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller and Filip Hrgovic (the latter for the interim IBF title) were almost as impressive.
The major difference was that the key aspects of Dubois’ turnaround — from the reinstatement of his mental fortitude to the hard work he put in on his offensive technique — largely took place below the radar. The other difference, of course, was that Dubois is seven years younger than Joshua, with less damage on his tire tread, which almost made him a fresher version of the same fighter he was staring across the ring at.
Dubois may not have a reputation for being as good of a boxer as Joshua is but that never ended up mattering in this fight because he simply never gave AJ a chance to breathe and jumped all over him with power shots. And it’s hard to say anything negative about the courage Joshua showed in defeat as he rose from the canvas four times and never stopped trying to win (in fact, Joshua cornered and hurt Dubois seconds before being knocked down on his face to end the fight).
What we ultimately missed most about Dubois is that the mean streak he is now operating behind was not only far too much for Joshua to handle, it suddenly makes him a legitimate threat to every single fighter in the division. Dubois has always had the physical tools to show flashes of potential greatness but he had never put the entire package together before, and especially not as emphatic as this, as Dubois truly looking the part of heavyweight monster (with an oddly calm and sociopathic demeanor, to boot).
Because this is boxing, where superstars get preferred treatment, Dubois will need to honor the automatic rematch clause Joshua had in his contract. But what this sets up is an intriguing semifinal bracket, of sorts, with the Usyk-Fury and Dubois-Joshua rematches, that could culminate in a 2025 summit to produce yet another undisputed heavyweight champion atop the sport.
If we learned anything on Saturday, it’s the reminder that there is nothing in professional sports even remotely as great as heavyweight championship boxing when it’s done like this, in a classic slugest between prime competitors in front of a stadium filled to the rafters with jubilant fans. In many ways, this is the type of fight that can be responsible for birthing legions of new fans to the sport for years to come.
But we were also reminded just how different the heavyweight division is from any other in the sport when it comes to counting people out (or, in the case of Dubois, overlooking one’s chances). Not only can heavyweight fights end at any given point with a single punch, fighters within the division often take much longer to fully mature and come of age.
We had the right angle when it came to Dubois and Joshua. But call me delighted to find out — in as exciting a manner as possible — that we also had the wrong man.
If Saturday’s wild result and intoxicating soundtrack provided by nearly 100,000 screaming fans was any indication, the next year of heavyweight championship boxing is going to be a crazy one.
Buckle up. These are the type of fights that truly make everything else that comes with following such a broken and frustrating sport as this one so worth it.
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