Promoter Eddie Hearn says Anthony Joshua’s striking resistance is not gone after his one-sided fifth round knockout loss to IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois on September 21.
Fans and the media have called for Joshua’s retirement, feeling that the 34-year-old can no longer take a decent punch without hitting the deck. They want Joshua to call it a day before he gets seriously hurt and can’t enjoy his massive $200+ million fortune.
As Joshua was dropped, he looked like a yo-yo on a string, with which a young child was playing. AJ was repeatedly on the canvas, and had no ability to stay on his feet. The fight should have been over in the third round when the referee seemed to wave it away.
If Joshua wants to hold on to collect $100+ million against Tyson Fury, that’s understandable, and you can’t fault him for that. But he must stay away from Dubois permanently, as well as other big punchers like Martin Bakole.
Hearn feels that the right hand that Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) knocked out AJ with in the first round would have knocked out any heavyweight in the division. The right hand that Dubois hit Joshua with would not have done the same thing to every heavyweight. Filip Hrgovic and Oleksandr Usyk were both hit with similar right hands from Dubois, and they took the shots.
Hearn says AJ’s punch resistance is still intact
“I think if his hit resistance was gone, he wouldn’t have gotten up from the first pitch. It was a big right hand that would have put most heavyweights to sleep,” said Eddie Hearn Second saltand reacts to the fact that the media is saying that Anthony Joshua’s striking resistance is gone after his loss to Daniel Dubois.
The reason Joshua wasn’t knocked out in the first round is because Dubois dropped him in the closing seconds. Had it happened earlier in the round, Dubois would have finished him.
“Daniel Dubois is a big puncher and hit Joshua with the kitchen sink for three rounds and couldn’t put him down. “Unfortunately, when he got back into the fight, he walked into a monster while trading, and he couldn’t get up from that one,” Hearn said.
When Joshua chose to fight aggressively in round five, it was clear that he was going to be knocked out. Instead of being defensive, as he was in rounds one through four, Joshua put his chin at risk in the fifth, and that made things easy for Dubois to finish him off.
“So, I don’t believe it. I know sparring is sparring, but no problems with his chin,” Hearn said. “I don’t think there ever was, but when you’re in with big punchers, you can get hurt. We’ve seen a lot of big heavyweights get hurt. Look at Tyson Fury. Usyk is not even a puncher.”
First of all, Joshua is not a “big heavyweight”, and neither is Tyson Fury. Second, Fury’s chin hasn’t been the same since his third fight with Deontay Wilder, but he hasn’t fought anyone very well since their third showdown in 2021.
Fury fought a pair of British heavyweights Derek Chisora and Dillian Whyte before facing Oleksandr Usyk last May. The end result was that Fury was beaten by Usyk, and he would have been knocked out in the ninth round if not for the referee, who saved him with a standing eight count.
“Tyson Fury was out on his feet and thrashing around the ring. It’s just heavyweight boxing,” Hearn said of Fury’s fight with Usyk. “It’s just what happens. I am very confident. Now the big decision will be whether we take the rematch or not.”
As Hearn talks, it seems clear that he wants nothing to do with Joshua fighting Dubois again. He’s not going to be the one to put his head on the chopping block for the fans by owning the decision to fight Dubois.
“One minute you’re a hero, and the next minute it’s all your fault,” Hearn said of the criticism Joshua’s trainer, Ben Davison, receives from fans and the media. “When you set up an uppercut, you don’t throw it with your left hand at your hip. You do it out of spite.”
There is no reason why Ben Davison should ever have been a “hero” to Joshua as the four fights he trained AJ were all rebuilds against these lower level fighters:
– Francis Ngannou
– Otto Wallin
– Roberto Helenius
– Jermaine Franklin
“It was just AJ on instinct, Dubois buzzed and tried to close the show, and he threw an uppercut from a technique perspective, completely wrong, and walked on a right hand,” Hearn said, and Ben defends Davison by blaming Joshua for his knockout rather than his trainer, who told him to throw the uppercut. “At that moment, when you start to find your way back into the fight, you have to roll the dice.”
Hearn doesn’t have to whitewash Ben’s faulty instructions by putting it on Joshua for using poor form to throw the uppercut. Joshua didn’t need to roll the dice in the fifth. He should have boxed at one point and corrected Dubois on an overhand.
“He (Joshua) doesn’t have much left in the tank at that stage. So, when he sees an opponent, he’s obviously going to go for it,” Hearn said. “Listen, maybe he should have broken him down in seven, eight, nine rounds. It is very difficult when you are in the moment and you see an opportunity, you have to take it.
“He showed good form in that fight,” Hearn said of Joshua. “Rob McCracken is one of the best coaches in the world, and they had a great relationship.
“AJ felt he needed to develop more than a fighter. I think he’s added a huge amount to his game since then, but Rob’s been a brilliant part of his career, and there’s been a huge amount of confidence as well. So, Rob has been an incredible asset to AJ,” Hearn said.
Ben Davison should be fired
Joshua should consider sacking Ben Davison and re-teaming with Rob McCracken because there needs to be a change. Davison was the captain of Joshua’s ship, and he came up with the flawed battle plans.
He got AJ into the carnage at Wembley and he should be drummed out of the corp for his failure. If it was the military, Ben would have to meet with his superiors, and a court martial might be in order.
