Daniel Dubois denied Anthony Joshua a chance to call himself a three-time heavyweight boxing champion. Dubois knocked out Joshua in the fifth round of their fight on Saturday to keep his IBF world heavyweight belt.
Despite being the reigning IBF heavyweight champion, Dubois entered the match against Joshua as an underdog. But you wouldn’t be able to tell this by watching the fight.
Dubois was aggressive from the first bell and sent Joshua on canvas in the opening round. He kept on applying the pressure, flooring Joshua in Round 2 and Round 4 as well.
In Round 5, with Joshua already visibly shaken, Dubois landed a right-hand shot on his opponent’s chin for a fourth knockdown. This time Joshua was unable to get up before the referee finished his count.
“I’ve only got a few things to say, man,” Dubois told the crowd after the fight. “Are you not entertained?!”
The loss against Dubois hands a big blow to Joshua in his journey back to the top.
After losing his WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight titles to Oleksandr Usyk in 2021 and failing to get them back in a rematch, Joshua proceeded to win his next four fights. The win against Dubois would likely open a possibility of fighting the winner of the match between Usyk and Tyson Fury in December, but that door seems to be closed now.
Instead, Dubois seems to have taken Joshua’s place as first in line to challenge either Usyk or Fury and get an opportunity to become the new undisputed heavyweight champion.
