ANTHONY Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, reckons the team could pursue a rematch with Daniel Dubois despite the one-sided nature of last night’s Wembley Stadium humdinger.
In the end, a punch-perfect short right hand put Joshua to bed and stunned the 96,000-strong crowd after five rounds of exciting brutality. AJ was floored multiple times and seemed out on his feet before the final blow.
Even so, Eddie Hearn somehow found plenty of optimism, pointing to Joshua’s heart and guts in defeat. Joshua even seemed on the verge of a surprise breakthrough just seconds before he was put to bed.
While Dubois’ strength and punching power were never in doubt, his own resilience had been questioned in the past following damaging defeats to Joe Joyce and Oleksandr Usyk. Nobody can question Daniel’s bravery or status as a legitimate world champion after adding the biggest name of his career to the slate.
“Full credit to Daniel Dubois, he deserves all the credit, it was a great performance,” said Eddie Hearn after the main event.
Hearn went on to reveal that he fully expects his man to exercise the rematch clause after a period of rest.
“[He’s] growing in confidence all the time,” Hearn added, somewhat bizarrely given Joshua’s long professional career and experience in big fights.
Joshua’s verbiage often speaks of learning curves, gaining knowledge and coming back stronger, wrapped up in faux philosophical statements. For many years, AJ has come across as an overthinker.
Daniel Dubois didn’t give him much time to think last night and there was little to suggest that a return would be much different.