His Excellency Turki Alalshikh hopes next month’s event, headlined by IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois and Anthony Joshua, will set an attendance record for a boxing match on September 21 at Wembley Stadium in London, England. The current record is the match between Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte, which attracted a crowd of 94,000 at Wembley Stadium on 23 April 2022.
Tickets are still on sale for the Joshua-Dubois fight, but it could literally sell out by September 21. British fans are excited about this fight and want to see 34-year-old Joshua revive his career to become a three-time heavyweight champion and put himself in a position to fight Tyson Fury next.
The return of the Vintage Joshua?
British fans want to see if Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) can return to the form he had many years ago. This is the main reason tickets are sold. AJ has struggled since 2019, losing three times and seemingly on the verge of being washed out after his second loss to Oleksandr Usyk in 2022.
Promoter Eddie Hearn partially revived him with his smart matchmaking, but we don’t know if he’s back because his opposition has been pure 100% tomato cans in his last four fights. Therefore, the Dubois fight will test whether the old vintage, fully restored 2013 version of Joshua is back.
It may be physically impossible to return Joshua to what he was 11 years ago. He’s taken a lot of punishment on the head, and he’s now in his mid-30s. He has always been shaky in the chin department and with his stamina. His 2012 Olympic gold medal is in doubt, and he would have lost to Wladimir Klitschko in 2017 if he had his old trainer, Emanuel Steward, in his corner. Steward died in 2012.
Fans have mixed opinions on the undercard for Joshua vs. Dubois. While British fans are happy about the fights on the undercard, American fans don’t see British fighters going anywhere on the domestic level in terms of the world stage:
Subcard:
– Tyler Denny vs. Hamzah Sheeraz
– Anthony Cacace vs. Josh Warrington
– Liam Smith vs Josh Kelly
– Joshua Buatsi vs. Wily Hutchinson
– Mark Chamberlain vs Josh Padley
Due to the high demand for tickets..We have requested to expand the capacity at Wembley Stadium for the highly anticipated fight between Joshua and Dubois at #Riyadh Season Map Wembley Edition 🔥
We hope to set a record for the biggest attendance in boxing history at Wembley Stadium😎🇸🇦🥊… pic.twitter.com/dSumJwVv48— Türkiye ALALSHIKH (@turk_alalshikh) August 27, 2024