DANIEL DUBOIS STUNNED Wembley Stadium and the boxing world with a fifth-round knockout of Anthony Joshua to defend his IBF heavyweight world title.
In an all-English dust-up, Dubois dropped Joshua hard in the first round which left ‘AJ’ reeling for most of the rest of the contest.
‘Dynamite’ scored a further knockdown in the third, overwhelming the jelly-legged Joshua who never truly recovered from the blow he took in the first.
With the writing on the wall, Joshua appeared to at least partly regain his senses in the fifth and Wembley exploded as he rocked Dubois with a thunderous right hand.
Smelling blood, Joshua closed in on what would have been a remarkable turnaround, cornering Dubois and riding one right hand to deliver another of his own. But as the two-time former champion wound up his killer blow, Dubois beat him to the punch.
A nuclear straight right hand to the chin flattened Joshua, almost knocking him out cold. The contest was waved off with Joshua almost head-over-heels as he attempted in vain to return to his feet.
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The majority of the record-breaking 96,000 supporters at Wembley were left stunned, albeit pockets of Dubois fans were jubilant.
Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, said afterwards that he expects Joshua (now 28-4, 25KOs) to exercise his rematch clause, with the fighter himself crediting his conqueror and indicating he intends to fight on.
Dubois (now 22-2, 21KOs) will either honour that rematch should it come to fruition or cast his eye towards the winner of Oleksandr Usyk’s rematch with Tyson Fury.
