Anthony Joshua drove a record attendance to Wembley Stadium for his latest fight against Daniel Dubois. The trouble is he brought a full house in to watch himself get knocked out.
Joshua, who walked second for some unknown reason despite being the challenger, was hurt by the first exchange against Dubois and never recovered. Delusions of grandeur were firmly put in their place as World Boxing News received a twelve-year vindication for consistently informing readers that the Londoner wasn’t all he was promoted to be.
He certainly wasn’t the second coming of Muhammad Ali. After the fifth-round KO, Dubois positioned himself as the best British heavyweight on the planet as Tyson Fury watched in awe.
Turki Alalshkih, visibly shaken by what transpired, informed all of the record crowd. He said, “I’ve just been informed that the final attendance number today at Wembley was 98,128.”
In the aftermath, CompuBox revealed the statistics of Joshua’s timely demise.
“Dubois came out firing in the opening frame and knocked Joshua down in the closing seconds of the round with an overhand right. At the end of two rounds, Dubois had landed 18 power punches, and Joshua had landed 5.
“Dubois scored a second knockdown in the third round. Joshua landed a left hook at the beginning of the fourth round only to be shaken by a Dubois jab and eventually knocked down again.
“In a desperate attempt to change the tide of the fight, Joshua tried to jump on Dubois in the opening seconds of the fifth round.
“Joshua seemed to stun and back up Dubois, but a Dubois counterpunch put Joshua down and out at 59 seconds of the fifth round.
“The final stats reflect a one-sided drubbing. Dubois landed more than twice as many total punches than Joshua. Joshua threw 35 power punches. Dubois landed 49 power punches and scored four knockdowns.
Joshua vs Dubois undercard results:
Hamzah Sheeraz vs Tyler Denny
Sheeraz landed a left hook on Denny’s temple, resulting in a knockdown in the first thirty seconds of the fight. Denny survived but couldn’t get inside Sheeraz’s massive reach advantage without absorbing punches from Sheeraz. Another series of left hooks to Denny’s head put him down again in the second round. Denny got up, but the referee halted the about at 2:05 of the second round. Sheeraz landed 35% of his jabs and 45% of his power punches.
Joshua Buatsi vs Willy Hutchinson
Buatsi landed 150 body punches on Hutchinson, while Hutchinson landed 18. 68% of Buatsi’s landed power punches were body shots. A flurry of body punches had Hutchinson doubled over on the canvas in the 6th round. He survived and attempted to mount a spirited comeback, only to be docked a point in the 7th round for leading with his head. Another body punch sent Hutchinson down to the canvas in the 9th round. One judge inexplicably scored the fight for Hutchinson 113-112. The other two judges scored 117-108 and 115-110 for Buatsi.
Anthony Cacace vs Josh Warrington
Warrington did his best work in the second round when he got in close and peppered Cacace with body shots. From the third round on, Cacace found his range. At the midway point, both combatants had landed 51 power punches. By the end of the fight, Cacace held a 14-power punch landed advantage. The scores were comprehensive- 118-110 and 117-111 twice, all for Cacace.
Josh Kelly vs Ishmael Davis
A prominent 12th round for Davis, where he landed ten punches and had Kelly clinging on to survive, was not enough to swing the fight in Davis’ favor. The last round was Davis’ best round and Kelly’s worst, making the final stats look closer. Kelly was the busier fighter and landed more punches in most rounds. One judge scored it a 114-114 draw, and the other two scored it 115-113 and 115-114 for Kelly.
Josh Padley vs Mark Chamberlain
Chamberlain and Padely were separated by 5 landed punches. Chamberlain landed seven more jabs, while Padley landed 12 more power punches. One of Padley’s power punches, a left hook, dumped Chamberlain on the canvas in round 8. When the referee docked him a point for repeated fouling, things got worse for Chamberlain. All three judges scored the fight for Padley, 96-92 twice and 95-93.
Read all articles and exclusive interviews by Phil Jay. Learn more about the author, experienced boxing writer, and World Boxing News Editor since 2010. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.
