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Nick Parkinson
LONDON — Anthony Joshua‘s career has not been ruined by Saturday’s devastating knockout loss to Daniel Dubois challenging for the IBF heavyweight title. But Joshua’s latest setback leaves us wondering whether we will ever see him face former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) sent Joshua spinning to the canvas four times in Rounds 1, 3, 4 and 5 and the image of the two-time heavyweight champion laid flat and counted out at the end left some wondering whether this is it for Joshua.
A fourth professional defeat, and a crushing one at that, could be career-ending for some fighters. But not Joshua, who is the second-highest-paid boxer on Forbes’ latest list of highest-paid athletes. (Joshua came in at 16th, with earnings of $83 million for the year, two places below super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez, with $85 million in earnings.)
As long as Joshua wants to fight on, big offers will continue to come his way, despite being battered around the ring at Wembley Stadium in front of 96,000 fans and watched by a global television audience.
Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) will want a rematch, but Dubois, 27, might opt to face the winner of the Dec. 21 clash between Fury and Oleksandr Usyk for the chance to become undisputed champion.
Time is running out for Joshua-Fury
Joshua is left waiting to see the outcome of Dec. 21, and whether the winner of that megafight in Saudi Arabia will face Dubois. It seems unlikely that Joshua will go from being knocked out to a title shot against Fury next year — should Fury beat Usyk — but even if Fury loses, do not rule out Fury vs. Joshua from happening in 2025.
Fury-Joshua is a bigger fight than any other in the division, in terms of the cash and interest that can be generated. It would be the biggest fight ever to be staged on British soil, and the biggest in boxing for some time. The fight was valued at $200 million in 2020 and promoters have tried and failed to make the fight more than once. Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn, who guides Joshua, recently said he hoped Fury-Joshua would be a two-fight event, one in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the other in London (either at Wembley Stadium, or the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium).
But time is ticking for both Joshua, 34, and Fury, 36, which is why Hearn has been saying over the past few days that the fight has to happen next year. But for Hearn, a rematch with Dubois has now become his top priority.
“I’m sure he’ll exercise that rematch clause,” Hearn said afterward. “I mean, I think that’s a given, but he’ll need a rest and it’s a dangerous fight. This guy’s [Dubois] growing in confidence all the time, but he’ll believe he can hurt Dubois. He’ll believe he can beat him.”
Fury vs. Joshua might have to wait. Again.
Demand will still be there to see the two English rivals collide, but Dubois has put himself in contention for a big fight in 2025. The winner of the Usyk vs. Fury rematch in Saudi Arabia may now prioritize a unification title clash against Dubois.
Dubois will also relish the chance to get even with Usyk, should he beat Fury, after losing to the Usyk by stoppage last year. And with Dubois and Fury promoted by Frank Warren, a matchup between them would be easy to accomplish for the first half of 2025.
Will AJ ever be the same?
This isn’t the last we have seen of Joshua in big fights, but it does leave you wondering if he can ever win a major title again.
The fifth round loss to Dubois certainly raises questions about Joshua’s ability to beat the likes of Usyk and Fury. Joshua froze and became an easy target for a grateful Andy Ruiz Jr. who pulled off a shock stoppage win in 2019. Joshua then seemed an easy target for Dubois, as his hands were low when he got caught in Round 1 for the first knockdown.
“Probably you’re asking do I still want to continue fighting?,” Joshua said in the postfight news conference. “Of course I want to continue fighting. That’s what I said, is we took a shot at success, and we came up short. What does that mean now? We going to run away? [Or] we going to live to fight another day?”
One question is whether Joshua can handle high-pressure situations. Since partnering with trainer Ben Davison last December, Joshua had looked assured, tactically astute and vicious in stoppage wins over Otto Wallin in 2023 and Francis Ngannou last March. Joshua has to hope he lost because of tactical blunders and with a few adjustments he can avenge this loss in a swift rematch.
But after a run of good form, the old questions about Joshua’s punch resistance have resurfaced, and the path ahead has become trickier for him to win a world title for a third time.