Dubois drops Joshua four times in devastating 5th-round KO win
Dubois drops Joshua four times in devastating 5th-round KO win
Retains IBF heavyweight title to 'legitimize' himself in major upset
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In an explosive, career-best performance, Daniel Dubois scored four knockdowns in an upset — and quite ruthless — fifth-round knockout of Anthony Joshua to retain the IBF heavyweight title in a shockingly one-sided fight on Saturday before a frenzied British record crowd of 98,128 at sold-out Wembley Stadium in London.
While Joshua was bidding to become a three-time heavyweight titleholder against his British countryman in the main event of the Riyadh Season card, Dubois admitted beforehand that he needed to win in order to “legitimize myself.”
The reason was because Oleksandr Usyk, who easily knocked out Dubois in the ninth round of a unified title defense in August 2023, was forced to vacate the IBF belt soon after earning undisputed status by unifying all four titles in a decision win over Tyson Fury in May because he was committed to an immediate rematch and not a mandatory defense. When Usyk vacated interim titleholder Dubois was elevated to full titleholder.
So while Dubois may not have beaten Usyk, he turned in a stellar performance and beat Joshua far more easily than Usyk had done in his two decisions over AJ.
“It’s been a long journey,” Dubois said. “I’m grateful to be in this position.”
Most figured the fight would be action packed but that ultimately Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs), 34, would be the one to score a knockout against Dubois, who had been stopped in his two losses and been knocked down three times by the much smaller Kevin Lerena in 2022.
But Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs), 27, who was making his first title defense since being elevated in June, withstood some massive shots from Joshua to dominate the fight from start to savage finish.
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