Anthony Joshua remains a heavyweight contender capable of delivering more thrilling nights despite his brutal knockout by Daniel Dubois, according to promoter Eddie Hearn.
Joshua crashed to the fourth defeat of his career after being counted out in the fifth round of a breathtaking collision at Wembley that signalled IBF world champion Dubois’ ascent to the big time.
Dubois displayed ferocious power, skill and a granite chin to send shockwaves through a division that has now been confronted with evidence its most marketable star is a faded force with an uncertain future. “What I witnessed was one guy showed up for the fight, the other guy didn’t,” was the biting assessment of Lennox Lewis after Joshua was floored four times in front of a record-breaking official attendance of 98,128.
But Matchroom Boxing boss Hearn believes the appeal of a rematch against Dubois as well as another all-British clash with Tyson Fury, who faces Oleksandr Usyk on December 21, provides options after Joshua himself vowed to fight on. “That’s probably the only time in his whole career I’ve seen AJ really hurt,” said Hearn, who had overseen a careful rebuild of Joshua’s career following his losses to Andy Ruiz and Usyk. “Of course he’s in the closing chapters of his career, there’s no doubt about that, and if you start getting knocked out like that, you certainly have to look at things.