Daniel Dubois defended his IBF Heavyweight title over the weekend against Anthony Joshua. It was a career-best performance from him, and I’ve decided to break down Dubois’s performance and how he set up his knockout.
Round 1: Dubois starts strong by pressuring Joshua against the rope and keeps a consistent snappy jab to give Joshua something to focus on. Whenever Dubois is ready to pounce, he waits for Joshua to be by the ropes, and when his lead hand is lower for Dubois overhand. Anytime Dubois landed, whether it was clean or off the gloves, it affected Joshua and caused him to have big reactions, which is what Dubois wanted. Joshua’s hands are constantly low which leaves him vulnerable to be countered. Near the end of the first round, after a small exchange, when Joshua is against the ropes again, he leaves his lead hand down, and Dubois times a beautiful overhand that completely offsets Joshua and results in a knockdown. Luckily for AJ, it was the end of the round. This was as good of a round as you could get for Dubois. Everything he wanted Joshua to react to, he did, and he found his jab straight away. The knockdown at the end of the round was the cherry on top. 10-8 Dubois.
Round 2: Dubois starts round two strong, as he can see that Joshua isn’t fully back yet. He is going on the constant attack and is landing some clean hooks that Joshua is just about surviving. Dubois starts to double his jab, which is smart as his jab is very powerful and could easily cause a knockdown. It was a much quieter round than the first, but Dubois still controlled the pace of the fight and did not let Joshua back in. It’s also smart of him not to blow his gas tank by going for the finish, so he stays calm and waits for his opening. That’s a simple 10-9 round for Dubois and 20-17 after two.
Round 3: Dubois again fights this round smart by not overdoing anything and working behind his jab, and doubling it up. He goes to the body a bit more in this round, which is smart for giving another area for Joshua to worry about. Dubois lands a glancing hook when Joshua overextended. This wobbled Joshua against the ropes, and he dropped him just on the bell again like round one. This fight is going so well for Dubois so far, with him not even needing to exert much energy as Joshua is playing into his game. When Joshua overextends, he knows on the way back, Joshua is wide open for the hook, and it throws Joshua off, and his legs wobble. 10-8 Dubois and 30-25 after three.
Round 4: Dubois drops Joshua again straight away, but it looks more like the Jab stumbled him, and he lost his footing. Joshua gets up, but with Dubois going for the kill now, he slips. Anytime Dubois lands, Joshua looks lost even if he doesn’t get dropped. Joshua is barely staying up against the ropes and constantly looks like he’s about to fall. One thing that Joshua had a bit of success with was his uppercut. He landed a few times, but because of how out of it he was, he wasn’t consistent with it. Another 10-8 round for Dubois and 40-33 overall.
Round 5: Funnily enough, this is Joshua’s best round. He lands a clean right on Dubois and has him slightly hurt, and he goes for the kill, but like most of the fight, he leaves his lead hand low, and Dubois counters with a short overhand and knocks Joshua out. Right when Joshua thinks he has found something, he over-commits and, while trying to throw his uppercut completely naked, gets countered by Dubois with his short overhand.
Overall Thoughts: Wow. Even though Dubois is a star in his own right, this was a star-making performance for him at the next level of heavyweight. At only 27, we’ve seen him grow into what his style should be, and this fight was proof that he is a top heavyweight. I’d love to see the Usyk rematch, as even though Usyk’s the best heavyweight to me, this Dubois will at least make for a fun fight and potentially better than the first. Other great opponents could be Zhilei Zhang or Joseph Parker, which could be a couple of fantastic fights. For Joshua, I would like him to retire as all he is doing to me is ruining his legacy, but it seems as if he plans on continuing fights, which I’m not looking forward to, but that’s boxing.
