Daniel Dubois scored an upset victory and ruined Anthony Joshua’s return to London’s Wembley Stadium for the fourth time with a fifth-round KO victory to retain the IBF heavyweight title Saturday night.
Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs), of London, was the former IBF interim champ who was elevated to full champion after Oleksandr Usyk vacated the belt in June to pursue a rematch with Tyson Fury. This one was his first defense.
Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs), of Watford, England, is a two-time heavyweight champion that was looking to win the title for a third time. He first won the IBF title against Charles Martin in 2016, became a three-belt unified champ when he defeated Wladimir Klitschko in ESPN’s 2017 fight of the year and took the WBO championship from Joseph Parker in 2018.
However, Dubois left Joshua’s career in disarray after knocking out his English rival with a right to the jaw in Round 5 in a first defense of his IBF heavyweight world title Saturday night at London’s Wembley Stadium.
Joshua endured a nightmare as Dubois floored him in Rounds 1, 3 and 4 before the savage finish after 59 seconds of Round 5.
Despite being the champion, Dubois pulled off an upset to inflict a fourth professional defeat on Joshua who was denied becoming a three-time world heavyweight champion in front of 96,000 fans, the biggest crowd ever for a boxing event in the United Kingdom.
Much was made of Joshua’s knockout form, and he entered the fight on the back of a vicious stoppage of Francis Ngannou in March, but it was Dubois’ power and aggression that determined the outcome as he dominated Joshua who was on jelly legs from the first round.
The victory sets up the possibility of Dubois fighting for the undisputed heavyweight title in 2025, against the winner of the Dec. 21 clash between WBC, WBA and WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, who were both ringside. Usyk stopped Dubois in Round 9 in August last year. Joshua must now hope for a Dubois rematch, or perhaps a clash vs. the loser on Dec. 21 after another serious setback to his career.
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