Daniel Dubois dominated fellow-British heavyweight Anthony Joshua on September 21 at Wembley Stadium in London. Battling it out in front of his hometown crowd, the 27-year-old IBF champion retained his belt by knockout, sending his opponent to the canvas multiple times along the way.
Joshua hit the floor in the first, third, fourth and fifth rounds. The final blow came from a right hand that sent him face down the canvas. Referee Marcus McDonnell called it a day at 59 seconds into the fifth round.
“It’s been a long journey,” said post-fight Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs), who in the lead up to the event had stated he was looking to “legitimise” himself as a champion. “I’m grateful to be in this position. God bless.”
“I’m a gladiator. I’m just a warrior to the end, to the bitter End. I’m just ready to go. I want to go to the top level of this game and reach my full potential.”
When asked what went wrong for him in the fight, former unified heavyweight champion Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) said “the opponent”.
“Credit to him and his team. I came here, I’m always saying to myself ‘I’m a fighter for life’. We rolled the dice at success and we came up short and we roll it again. We keep rolling the dice.”
“It’s a bit of a mix. Had a sharp opponent, a fast opponent… And secondly a lot of mistakes from my end. But that’s the game.”
In the all-British co-main event, Hamzah Sheeraz (21-0, 17 KOs) dominated Tyler Denny (19-3-3, 1 KO) to claim European title at middleweight. On the way to victory via second-round TKO, the unbeaten contender dropped his opponent twice. Sheeraz also collected WBC “Silver” and Commonwealth straps.
Also on the card, Ghana’s Joshua Buatsi (19-0, 14 KOs) lifted the interim WBO light heavyweight title via a controversial split decision against Willy Hutchinson (18-2, 13 KO) of Scotland. In the seventh round Hutchinson was deducted a point for use of head. Buatsi sent his opponent down in the sixth and ninth rounds with body shots. After 12 rounds, one scorecard was 113-112 in favor of Hutchinson, while two other scorecards were 115-110 and 117-108 for Buatsi.
Among other Joshua vs Dubois results, Northern Ireland’s IBF super featherweight titleholder Anthony Cacace (23-1, 8 KOs) defeated England’s former world champion Josh Warrington (31-4-1, 8 KOs) by unanimous decision with the scores 117-111, 118-110, 117-111. Post-fight the latter put his gloves on the canvas and posed for a photo, possibly hinting at retirement.
In a 12-round all-British bout at middleweight, Josh Kelly (16-1-1, 8 KOs) was predominantly in control, but had to survive the final round to defeat late replacement opponent Ishmael Davis (13-1, 6 KOs) by majority decision. The scores were 115-113, 115-114 and 114-114.
Kicking off the action, Josh Padley (15-0, 4 KOs) handed Mark Chamberlain (16-1, 12 KOs) his first career defeat in an all-British bout at super lightweight. After 10 rounds, the scores were 96-92, 96-92 and 95-93.