Boxing: Daniel Dubois Knocks Out Anthony Joshua, Retains IBF Heavyweight Crown

One of the most stunning dominations in recent boxing heavyweight history went down Saturday in front of 96,000 fans inside the famous Wembley Stadium in London, England when Daniel Dubois knocked out former two-time champion, Anthony Joshua en route a signature victory in the successful defence of his IBF world heavyweight title

In what most boxing pundits described as a “Flat and uncoordinated” performance by Joshua, the Nigerian-born British boxer was clearly hurt early in the first round by the IBF Champion in the title showdown, and going forward from there, the result seemed inevitable.

Despite Joshua’s attempt to keep pushing through multiple knockdowns, he finally got knocked out for the final time in the fifth round of the headlining boxing act

The 27-year-old Dubois dominated the opening stages of the bout, dropping the two-time former unified heavyweight champion multiple times.

Dubois, who was a class act in this all-British spectacular boxing delivery, got momentarily stunned by two right hands in the dramatic fifth round.

However, just as Joshua looked to pile on the pressure, the 34-year-old was caught by successive right hands himself by his younger opponent. This time around, there was no escape for Joshua as he went down again and unable to beat the referee’s count.

“Are you not entertained?” Dubois said to huge cheers at Wembley, adding; “I’m a gladiator. I am a warrior to the bitter end. I want to get to the top level of this sport and reach my potential.”

Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk became boxing’s first four-belt undisputed heavyweight champion in May when he beat Tyson Fury, simultaneously holding the IBF title along with the WBO, WBC and WBA.

The Ukrainian agreed to a rematch with Fury rather than facing mandatory IBF challenger Dubois.

Dubois won the interim IBF title in June and was elevated to world champion status when Usyk vacated the belt. – With AFP report