Surprisingly, tickets are nonetheless on sale for subsequent month’s Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois struggle, which will likely be held on September 14th on the 100,000-seat Wembley Stadium in London.
Dubois Targeted on Knockout
IBF heavyweight champion Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs) is raring to knock out the previous two-time champion Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) and set himself as much as face the winner of the Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk rematch in early 2025.
Joshua has received his final 4 fights in opposition to low-level opposition, and his followers imagine that he’s been rejuvenated to pre-Wladimir Klitschko classic kind. I don’t see it that approach.
To be introduced again to the extent Joshua was at earlier than, he would want to age backward, which is bodily not possible, even with trendy science. He’s at all times had points along with his punch resistance.
Joshua’s final 4 wins:
- Francis Ngannou: *Celeb degree match. It ought to have by no means been sanctioned as knowledgeable struggle.
- Otto Wallin: Introduced in on three-week discover
- Robert Helenius: 41-year-old coming off 1st spherical KO
- Jermaine Franklin: Coming off defeat to Dillian Whyte
AJ’s wins over this abysmal lot present nothing moreover that he’s been matched fastidiously by his wily promoter, Eddie Hearn.
For Joshua to indicate that he’s been rejuvenated to age backward in Benjamin Button kind, he would want to beat higher fighters than these 4 that Hearn fastidiously picked out to rebuild Joshua and re-package him for advertising functions.
You’d need to be dense and totally sluggish on the uptake to imagine that Joshua has been retro-fitted in a real sense after beating these 4 low-level fighters.
“Victory is particular. A stoppage is what I’m after, and an announcement is what I’m all about,” mentioned Daniel Dubois to Sky Sports activities Boxing about his objective for his struggle in opposition to challenger Anthony Joshua on September twenty first in London.
A knockout is what Dubois must concentrate on on this struggle as a result of if it goes to the scorecards, the probabilities are excessive that Joshua will get the nod from the judges. He’s the growing older star with the mega-fight in opposition to Tyson Fury across the nook.
They need to make the Joshua-Fury cash struggle earlier than the 2 growing older stars go supernova and blast their matter all around the universe.
“If Joshua could make Dubois seem like he made Wallin and Ngannou look, I believe you’re speaking for actual right here,” mentioned analyst Paulie Malignaggi to the Probox TV YouTube website about Joshua.
If Joshua knocks out Dubois, it received’t show as a lot as you’d suppose as a result of he’s already been knocked out by Usyk and Joe Joyce.
Joshua should knock out Dubois, Usyk, and Fury to show his specialness. I don’t see that taking place as a result of Usyk has AJ’s quantity and can probably beat him once more if the 2 meet for a trilogy.
Ben Davison’s Affect: Overstated?
“He’s wanting good with Ben Davison. He’s a great coach, and it’s proven in Joshua’s confidence and ability set,” mentioned Malignaggi. “He’s asserting himself now. Dubois is a danger man. If he can dominate Dubois, it might be an enormous assertion.”
Ben Davison hasn’t improved Joshua. He’s nonetheless the identical fighter he at all times was. The blokes Joshua fought in his first 4 fights had been weaker than the fighters he fought within the newbie ranks, and that’s the truth of the state of affairs.
Wallin and Helenius had been previous. Ngannou was only a man who was well-known from his years within the UFC and was a celeb. Jermaine was a fringe contender coming off a loss to Whyte. Joshua might have crushed these guys equally, coaching himself as a result of they had been horrible fighters.
“He’s appeared just like the Joshua of previous, the pre-Klitschko Joshua, who was dominant,” mentioned Chris Algieri about his ideas on Joshua wanting just like the model of himself from 2013 to 2016, when he was destroying lesser opposition.
Issues modified when Joshua fought the 41-year-old Wladimir Klitschko in 2017 and was nearly knocked out.
“Joshua was controlling, bodily, explosive, scoring knockouts and actually punishing guys. That’s the kind of Joshua it’s going to take if he’s going to get a win over Usyk,” mentioned Algieri, assuming AJ beats Dubois on September twenty first.
“He’s a special man now that he’s with Ben Davison. The arrogance is there, the ability set is there, and the physicality is there. The mindset that’s the place actually the distinction has been with Anthony Joshua. He was just a little shaky after that Klitschko struggle,” mentioned Algieri.
I wouldn’t say Joshua was shaky after Klitschko as a result of he received his subsequent three fights in opposition to Carlos Takam, Joseph Parker, and Alexander Povetkin earlier than getting knocked out within the seventh spherical by Andy Ruiz Jr. on June 1st, 2019.
If AJ had been “shaky,” he would have had issues in opposition to these three earlier than the Ruiz struggle. Though Joshua was staggered by Povetkin of their struggle in September 2018, it had nothing to do with a insecurity. It was the identical chin drawback that Joshua had exhibited in opposition to Wladimir and later in opposition to Ruiz.
