Last night we may have seen the last of Anthony Joshua. The former unified heavyweight champion of the world suffered his fourth career loss by devastating knockout. Daniel Dubois completely dominated the fight and battered AJ across all five rounds that the bout lasted leaving fans wondering if we will ever see Anthony Joshua in the ring again.
In the first round, Joshua had some success to start, but Dubois caught him on the chin with a big overhand that sent him to the canvas. From that moment on, Joshua seemed completely out of the fight. Had the knockdown not come at the end of the round, he probably would not have made it out of the first. As the bell rang, he stumbled back to his corner but he never fully recovered from that knockdown. In the second round, Joshua landed some good shots but Dubois had too much momentum from the big knockdown and he easily won the round. Round three was a brutal one as Dubois dropped Joshua once again at the end of the round and his corner had to save him to beat the count. Round four was much of the same with Joshua going down seconds into the round. Joshua went down once again but the referee waived it off and allowed the fight to continue. With each passing minute, AJ looked more and more defeated. The early knockdown did too much damage for him to recover and there was no way to get back into the fight. At the start of the fifth round, Joshua started to mount a comeback. He landed a massive right hand which hurt Dubois and as he tried to go for the finish, he left himself open and Dubois landed a right hand that put Joshua down for the final time. AJ did not get up in time to beat the count and the referee waived off the fight.
This was Joshua’s fourth career loss and it is tough to see him getting back into title contention after such a devastating loss. The former champion has already lost to Oleksandr Usyk in back-to-back fights along with his knockout loss to Andy Ruiz in 2019. The only next step is either a Deontay Wilder fight sometime next year or he can wait to fight the loser of the Usyk vs Fury rematch. Should Usyk defeat Fury once again, the Fury vs Joshua fight that fans have been asking for can finally take place. Another possible fight could be against Jarell Miller, but Miller might want to get back in the ring before Joshua is ready to return.
Perhaps the more interesting question is what now happens with Daniel Dubois. He is the IBF champion and a unification bout seems to make sense, but he would have to wait for the Usyk vs Fury winner. If Tyson Fury wins, there will likely be a trilogy, but even if that’s not the case, a Fury vs Dubois fight will be difficult to make considering they share the same promoter. If Usyk wins, there might not be much intrigue in seeing him fight Dubois again unless Dubois defends the IBF belt once more before that. Also, there is the possibility of both Usyk and Fury retiring after their fight which could result in fighters like Joseph Parker and Martin Bakole getting opportunities to fight for the vacant belts.
Nonetheless, the fight was an exciting one and the intrigue of what happens next with both Dubois and Joshua creates even more excitement for boxing fans.
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