Joshua seeks third title reign, Dubois seeks to 'legitimize' himself
Heavyweights square off in massive all-British showdown at sold-out Wembley Stadium; details of the PPV lineup
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The first Riyadh Season card to take place in the United Kingdom will be one for the history books with a British record 96,000 expected at sold-out Wembley Stadium in London for the all-British showdown between IBF heavyweight titleholder Daniel Dubois, who is making his first defense, and superstar former two-time unified titleholder Anthony Joshua.
Most expect an action-packed fight when they meet atop the deep card on Saturday (DAZN PPV, PPV.com, 11 a.m. ET, $19.99) in front of the record crowd, made possible by the local government approving additional seating to break the record of 94,000 set by the Tyson Fury-Dillian Whyte heavyweight title fight at Wembley Stadium in April 2022.
Some will view Dubois’ ownership of the belt as suspect because Oleksandr Usyk, who dominated and knocked out Dubois in the ninth round in August 2023 to retain his three unified titles, went on to outpoint Fury in handing him his first defeat to become the first four-belt undisputed heavyweight champion in their classic battle in May in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Dubois then claimed the vacant interim IBF belt on June 1 in an upset eighth-round knockout of Filip Hrgovic to take over as the IBF mandatory challenger. Usyk had no choice but to eventually vacate because the IBF mandatory was overdue and he was contractually committed to an immediate rematch with Fury on Dec. 21.
So, while Usyk remains the lineal champion, holds the other three belts and is No. 1 in the division, Dubois was elevated to the IBF full titleholder upon Usyk vacating. Had Usyk not relinquished the belt he would have been stripped. If there is a silver lining to the situation it is that Dubois’ ascension to the full title paved the way for the fight with Joshua since it probably would not have happened had the title not been on the line.
Whether you like the politics of the situation or not, if Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs), 34, wins, he will become a three-time heavyweight titleholder and will look forward to a possible mega fight with Fury should he beat Usyk in their rematch, or perhaps a third fight with Usyk, who outpointed him twice, ending his second title reign in 2021 and beating him again in their immediate rematch in 2022.
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