Dubois defeats Joshua to retain IBF heavyweight title with brutal 5th-round knockout

LONDON – Daniel Dubois is no longer a heavyweight world champion by accident.

With a brutal fifth-round knockout of Anthony Joshua in front of 96,000 fans at Wembley Stadium, Dubois showed he could be the real deal – and the future of boxing's premier division.

“Aren’t you amused?” Dubois shouted to the crowd after dominating the all-British title fight to complete his quest to legitimize his status as heavyweight titleholder, three months after winning the IBF belt vacated by Oleksandr Usyk.

Dubois, 27, entered the ring first – an unusual turn of events given he was the champion – to reinforce the sense that this was a homecoming for Joshua, the darling of British boxing for a decade who was looking to emulate Muhammad Ali and Lennox Lewis as a three-time heavyweight champion.

Dubois left the ring as the next great heavyweight fighter, having grounded Joshua in the first and third rounds before ending the fight 59 seconds into the fifth round with a counter right that sent Joshua face down.

Joshua's corner threw in the towel but it was not necessary. There was no coming back for a boxer whose best days seem behind him.

“This is my time, my redemption story,” said Dubois, who has put himself in position to potentially face the winner of the Dec. 21 rematch between WBA, WBC and WBO champion Usyk and Tyson Fury. “I’m not going to stop until I reach my full potential.”

As for the outclassed Joshua, he has vowed to keep boxing after a fourth defeat in five years. His promoter, Eddie Hearn, has said he wants to exercise his rematch clause.

This was the worst of all those defeats, however. Joshua was saved by the bell in the first and third rounds after knockdowns and put in a mediocre performance throughout, with Dubois getting through his defence with ease.

Joshua never recovered from a late first-round ground blow. He stuck his tongue out at Dubois as he returned to his stool, but he was clearly hurt, disoriented and vulnerable.

The knockdown at the end of the third round, following a big left shot from Dubois, sent Joshua onto his back through the ropes.

“I had a quick and strong opponent,” Joshua said. “But I made a lot of mistakes.”

A record crowd at a post-war boxing match in Britain witnessed a changing of the guard.

Joshua has become a marketing phenomenon over the past decade, selling out stadiums in Britain and earning hundreds of millions of dollars largely on the strength of his punching power. He could return, but surely not as a realistic title contender after slipping to 28-4.

Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) is undoubtedly the future. He said after the fight that he wanted another chance at Usyk, to whom he lost in Wroclaw, Poland, last year — but only after he knocked the Ukrainian to the canvas with a controversial low blow from which Usyk had time to recover.

Otherwise, there is potentially a lucrative fight with Fury, 36, on the horizon.

“I’m a gladiator. I’m a warrior to the end,” Dubois said. “I want to reach the highest level of this sport.”

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