Eddie Hearn has revealed that Anthony Joshua has a rematch clause to force a second fight against IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois after he was knocked out by him in the fifth round in London on Saturday night.
Hearn did not say whether Joshua (28-4, 23 KOs) would activate the rematch clause immediately or later. Joshua will have to consider this decision carefully as he did not look good tonight and was repeatedly knocked down in the short five-round fight.
AJ’s trainer, Ben Davison, jumped into the ring after he was counted out in round five. This move showed that Davison felt that Joshua had taken enough punishment from Dubois, and he did not want the fight to continue.
The 27-year-old Dubois had youth on his side tonight, beating the living daylights out of the 34-year-old Joshua, who was nothing like the fighter he was in his prime.
Age seemed to catch up with Joshua tonight, with him looking slow and his punching resistance gone.
“Aren’t you entertained? I’m a gladiator, I’m a fighter to the bitter end and I’m just ready to go. This is my time, this is my redemption story, and I’m not going to stop until I reach my full potential,” Daniel Dubous said after the fight.
Joshua seemingly never recovered from a first round knockdown he suffered tonight. In the final seconds of the first round, Dubois connected with a short right hand that he didn’t expect, and the blow looked like it might have edged the former champion. After that round Joshua was on skates in rounds two, three, four and five.
Dubois dropped Joshua with a lightning strike in the third round, and it’s unclear how AJ survived as he wasn’t in great shape after getting to his feet. Joshua was knocked down in the fourth and then again in round five.
There was brief hope for Joshua in the fifth when he landed a scorching right that shook Dubois by his boots, causing his legs to instantly turn to jelly. Dubois retreated to the ropes in what looked like a land stand to him. Joshua charged forward and threw bombs.
Dubois threw a nice right hand that missed, but it was thrown with a lot of power. Joshua should have noticed that Dubois was still alive and playing it safe, but he didn’t.
Instead, AJ threw a hard right hand that Dubous countered with a short punch that connected like a ton of bricks on his chin and put him down. The fight was then stopped at 0:59 of round five.
