Gareth A. Davies believes Anthony Joshua’s legacy is in a multitude after having the stuffing crushed out of him by Daniel Dubois in an embarrassing fifth-round knockout final Saturday evening.
Joshua’s profession is actually over except he avenges the defeat, which doesn’t look promising. He was quiet after the battle about whether or not to make use of his rematch clause to power a second battle towards Dubois. Hearn spoke about probably exercising the rematch clause, however his facial features didn’t look convincing.
Legacy-wise, Joshua’s resume doesn’t stand out. His finest win was towards 41-year-old Wladimir Klitschko, who had retired and was not the identical man as a consequence of his age and the absence of his coach, Emanuel Steward. He handed away 5 years earlier, in 2012.
Joshua and Hearn will probably determine towards taking the rematch with Dubois and give attention to going after the sure-thing assured payday battle that His Excellency Turki Alalshikh desires.
With the battle being financed by Turki, it doesn’t matter if it fails to usher in the cash it will have if each fighters had been successful and nonetheless on the high of their video games. AJ’s profession has been properly managed from the very begin in 2013, and there’s no likelihood he’ll be steered right into a harmful rematch that he has little likelihood of successful towards Dubois.
If Joshua goes to win the rematch, he’ll need to make some main modifications to his battle technique, bodily conditioning, and coaching group. The place AJ is now, he gained’t beat Dubois in a rematch.
Joshua (28-4, 23 KOs) was the favourite to win by the oddsmakers and the boxing public, who gave IBF heavyweight champion Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) nearly no likelihood. They considered this as simply one other evening on the workplace for AJ and had been fooled by how spectacular he’d seemed in his earlier 4 performances.
“It’s important to reward Anthony Joshua for hanging on after his world was ripped out from beneath him within the final 20 seconds of the primary spherical by that overhand proper,” mentioned Gareth A. Davies to talkSport Boxing, discussing how issues went downhill quick for Anthony Joshua after being clipped by Daniel Dubois within the first spherical final Saturday.
“How he held on till the fifth spherical and nearly rescued victory from the jaws of defeat it’s nearly past any of us. It leaves Anthony Joshua’s legacy in a multitude in the intervening time, and the place he goes sooner or later could be very unsure.
Davies talked about how Joshua nearly “rescued victory from the jaws of defeat” within the fifth spherical after he landed one punch however was down face-first on the canvas seconds later. Promoter Eddie Hearn says Joshua obtained too “grasping” then and went for the end when he ought to have been extra calculated.
“Final evening, it was the AJ present as a result of the champion [Dubois] walked first, which is uncommon as properly. He was handled just like the A-side as properly, strolling out. I picked Joshua to win. I assumed he had the wherewithal to do it, however he by no means recovered after being hit by that proper hand within the first spherical,” mentioned Gareth.
The battle was principally over within the first spherical after Dubois damage Joshua with a right-hand haymaker thrown from an extended distance within the ultimate 20 seconds. Joshua thought he was out of vary of Dubois’ punches however didn’t contemplate his potential to launch a missile from that far out. The punch nailed Joshua on the chin, sending him down. Joshua fought defensively, throwing only a few punches in rounds 2, 3, 4, and 5.
“He didn’t execute his sport plan. He got here up towards a younger man who wished to beat him in a duel, and he misplaced in a duel. They’re each large, explosive punchers. He didn’t produce final evening. Take a look at the punch stats.
“He threw 117 punches in these 5 rounds and landed 32 as a result of he was in survival mode for many of it. He obtained crushed up. That is the primary time he was crushed up. This was a one-sided drubbing,” mentioned Gareth about Joshua.
It seemed like Joshua was in a ‘Final Stand’ kind of battle scenario, outmanned and underequipped together with his offensive firepower. He’d left his Gatling gun behind and was armed with solely single-shot weapons. Joshua couldn’t battle that type of battle towards a strong fighter with the kind of cardio and high-pressure offense that Dubois had.
What an evening of boxing 🤩Introduced by @autozone 🥊#JoshuaDubois pic.twitter.com/LVe830vlQk
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) September 21, 2024
