Anthony Joshua had “System Overload” against Dubois, says Tim Bradley

Tim Bradley believes Anthony Joshua suffered “system overload” from the pace IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois put him through last Saturday night. Joshua didn’t have time to think through the mental software taught to him by the many trainers he had during his 11-year career.

(Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)

Bradley feels that Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) has technically “evolved” with all the different trainers he has had during his career. However, due to Dubois’ pace, Joshua became overwhelmed and unable to figure out what plan to use.

With all the technical information Joshua was taught, he didn’t have time to sift through his mental gears because Dubois had him under fire. Physically, Joshua looked identical to his performance against Wladimir Klitschko in 2017.

The difference was that when Dubois dropped Joshua, he continued to attack him. Klitschko did not. When he dropped Joshua, he chose to box and let him off the hook. It was stupid of Klitschko, and he should have won that fight because Joshua was hurt badly from the sixth to the tenth.

If you put last Saturday’s version of Dubois in a working time machine and transported him to 2017, he would have knocked out the Joshua who fought Klitschko.

“AJ has become a little more skilled. He developed through all those coaches. The thing is, if you force a pass on him, it’s like system overload,” Tim Bradley said Probox TVtalks about how Anthony Joshua gets confused and can’t think when he is forced to fight at a fast pace as we saw in his fight against Daniel Dubois last Saturday night.

When a fighter constantly changes trainers like Joshua did, it gives them too much knowledge, and they can’t process it the same way if they were with one trainer from day one. When you only have one coach your whole career, you know what to do.

“He doesn’t know what to do. He has to react quickly, and that requires him to make quick decisions,” Bradley continued of Joshua. “I knew it going in. Dubois does very well when he comes forward. He is very explosive. He has that pendulum hop. He will bounce back and then come forward extremely quickly and close the distance on you.”

Joshua’s attitude about needing to change trainers every time he lost backfired, leaving him unable to handle a high-pressure situation last Saturday. This would not have happened if Joshua had stuck with the trainer he first turned pro with.

“I think the fight was won at the gate. As soon as I saw AJ come out, he had his chin in the air and his hands down,” Bradley said. “I looked at my wife and said, ‘It’s over. He’s getting ready to knock his chin off.’ Once that right hand landed, he didn’t recover from the first right at all.”

Joshua appeared to be following his trainer Ben Davison’s game plan of using movement, which was ineffective as it allowed Dubois to get behind him and unload with full force. AJ never really got his offense going in the first round before he was clipped, and he was too hurt in the remaining rounds to do much.

“It still looked somewhat like the same AJ, but his chin was in the air. His hands were dropped. I don’t know if it had anything to do with the way he was trained. It was AJ though, folks. It was. He pitched, he pitched, and Dubois came to win, and he showed up.”

It was the 100% refurbished Joshua, built back to factory specs, that destroyed Dubois. He won not because Joshua was washed out, as some think, but rather because he was facing a guy with power similar to Wladimir Klitschko. Joshua would have had problems with Dubois earlier in his career.

“One more thing. This is the first puncher since AJ fought Ruiz (in 2019). He hasn’t fought anyone who can punch. Think about it. His first real puncher, bro. He hasn’t fought anyone that could hit that hard,” Bradley said.

AJ did face one big punch, Francis Ngannou, in the last five years since his second fight against Andy Ruiz. However, Ngannou, a boxing novice with one fight under his belt in the pro ranks, had no skills and didn’t know how to use the power he had in his fight against Joshua last March. Aside from Ngannou, Joshua hasn’t fought anyone who can punch, which has allowed him to do well.

Joshua’s opponents since Ruiz:

– Daniel Dubois
– Francis Ngannou
– Otto Wallin
—Robert Helenius
– Jermaine Franklin
– Oleksandr Usyk x 2
– Kubrat Pulev