Eddie Hearn believes Daniel Dubois can crack under the pressure when he faces Anthony Joshua on September 21 at Wembley Stadium in London in front of 96,000 fans. Hearn expects Dubois’ game plan to unravel quickly during the fight, but he doesn’t know if that will be good for Joshua.
Hearn’s attempts to unnerve Dubois
Matchroom promoter Hearn needs IBF heavyweight champion Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs) to crumble under the pressure of the fans and against fighter Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs), who has carried British boxing on his back for the last decade since turning pro in 2013.
Hearn is trying everything he can to unnerve Dubois, 26, because he doesn’t want the AJ gravy train to end. He was a great moneymaker and a great recruiting tool to bring other fighters into Matchroom, such as the fur runner of Hamelin.
If Joshua, 34, loses this fight, especially if it’s by knockout to Dubois, that could be it for him. Yes, he will take the rematch, but Dubois will put a final exclamation point on his career by destroying him a second time.
Hearn would be wise to keep Joshua from fighting a rematch with Dubois if he loses, because this is not Andy Ruiz, and he can be relied upon to eat himself to a state of obesity. Dubois will stay in shape for a rematch and do a number on Joshua a second time.
Will Dubois’ game plan fall apart?
“It’s going to be interesting to see how he (Dubois) handles the moment because for AJ these nights are bread and butter,” Eddie Hearn told talkSport Boxing. YouTube channel, expressing doubt that Daniel Dubous will be able to handle the pressure of facing Anthony Joshua on September 21 in front of a huge 90,000+ crowd at Wembley Stadium in London.
If Dubois hasn’t unraveled mentally from his last three fights against Filip Hrgovic, Jarrell Miller and Oleksandr Usyk, he won’t fall apart when fighting Joshua in front of a big crowd. Hearn has to worry about Joshua, who comes loose when stressed and is a mental basket case. He stopped in his loss to Andy Ruiz and looked like he did the same thing in his first fight against Usyk.
“I know Dubois boxed Usyk in Poland, but this is different. Walked out with 96,000,” Hearn said. “The plan His Excellency has for the fight week is going to blow your mind. I don’t want to give it away, but it’s going to be such a big moment for Daniel Dubois that you have to be prepared all week, the pressure and especially on fight night.”
Dubois has proven himself in his last three fights that he is tested and can fight in front of a big crowd for a stressful fight. Joshua fell apart in his second fight with Usyk, immediately went crazy afterwards, throwing his belts out of the ring and talking insane gibberish to the audience. I waited for the men in white coats to take Joshua away after putting a straitjacket on him.
“The ringwalk, the moment, and I think with Daniel, whatever the game plan is, will probably unravel very quickly, which could make him even more dangerous because he might just go for it,” Hearn said.
Dubois’ game plan is obvious, isn’t it? There’s nothing to unravel as Dubois goes after Joshua from the opening bell, pushing a fast pace, trying to take his head off. Dubois isn’t going to fight at a slow pace because that will allow Joshua to drive him in with one of his right hands, which he knocked out Francis Ngannou and Robert Helenius.
“If he loses to Dubois, I won’t know where the conversation with Anthony Joshua will go because he lost to someone he wasn’t expected to, and he lost to a British fighter. It takes away from his legacy,” Simon Jordan said of Joshua.
A loss could spell the end for Joshua
If he loses, Joshua will probably want a rematch, but he needs to forget about it and go in a different direction.
His Excellency Turki Alalshikh says he wants to make the fight between Joshua and Tyson Fury next, and he doesn’t care if either of them lose their next fight. Joshua should take him up on the offer and walk away from a loss to Dubois.
AJ could fight Fury twice and then try to avenge his loss to Dubois if he chooses not to retire. By the time Joshua faces Fury twice, he will be 36 and too old to have any chance of beating Dubois.
