Eddie Hearn: Anthony Joshua Only Person To Blame For ‘Stinker’ Against Daniel Dubois
Promoter Eddie Hearn believes Anthony Joshua is the only person to blame for his defeat to IBF heavyweight world champion Daniel Dubois earlier this month.
Joshua (28-4-0 25 KO) fell to shock fifth-round loss to Dubois (22-2-0 21 KO) on September 14 at Wembley Stadium in London. AJ was the favorite heading into the fight, but he soon found himself in a world of trouble after getting dropped by a heavy shot in the opening round.
While the former unified champion had his moments, notably at the end of the fourth and start of the fifth rounds, he was largely dominated by Dubois, who also sent him to the canvas in the third and fourth rounds before ultimately securing an emphatic stoppage.
Dubois has deservedly received plenty of praise and credit for the best performance of his career, but Joshua attracted just as much criticism for arguably the worst display of his career. Some of that negativity has been directed at AJ’s trainer Ben Davison, who instructed his fighter to attempt an uppercut as a follow-up to a jab in the fifth round.
Fellow trainer Shane McGuigan, working as a ringside commentator, immediately commented that Davison’s advice would leave Joshua vulnerable to a Dubois counter right-hand, which is exactly what happened. The comments from McGuigan, who formerly trained Dubois, soon went viral after the fight.
However, Hearn, who has guided Joshua’s career ever since he turned professional in 2013, is convinced that it was AJ’s inability to follow instructions that cost him the fight instead of bad advice from Davison.
“I mean [Davison] gets all the praise for his last couple of performances,” Hearn told BoxingScene. “AJ did things that Ben didn’t tell him to do, he pulled back in a straight line with his chin in the air, his hand position, you know, all this kind of stuff.
“What happened at that point is he started to recover but he was still very low in the tank, and that wasn’t going to change. What you don’t want to do is be nine, or 10 rounds in and be damaged goods. This is the chance here [when he hurt Dubois in Round 5]. You’ve got your feet back, you buzzed him in the fourth round, roll the dice. I think it should be commended.
“Now Shane’s analysis, which actually came at the time, normally it comes after, so it was smart from Shane. But, of course, if you don’t throw the uppercut correctly and you keep your hands low when you’re throwing it, you are open to the right hand and that is something to learn on.
“But you know I think Ben [Davison] and Lee [Wylie] do a great job, have done a great job, he just didn’t perform, and you know I think as a team they’ll regroup and come again.”
Joshua has bounced back from humbling defeats in the past. He first tasted defeat in June 2019 when his grand American introduction was shattered by Andy Ruiz Jr, who stopped the then-world champion in the seventh round. AJ responded by winning the rematch six months later with a comfortable points victory to reclaim the IBF, WBA, and WBO belts.
Joshua then suffered his second career loss to Oleksandr Usyk in September 2021 when he was dominated from start to finish. He fared much better in the rematch 11 months later, but Usyk put his foot on the gas in the championship rounds to claim a split-decision victory. Since then, AJ put together a four-fight win streak to set up his showdown with Dubois.
Hearn is convinced that the various setbacks have made Joshua better at handling defeat and remains adamant that his fighter still has the hunger to become a three-time world champion.
“I mean he’s definitely gutted,” said Hearn. “But obviously, when you’ve lost before, like anything it’s not that you want to get used to it, but you know just how to experience and handle the emotions.
“I think that one of the things that I told him was, ‘although you boxed poorly and you made mistakes, you couldn’t have done anything more, you couldn’t have tried anymore, you couldn’t have given any more, you couldn’t have been braver. And by the way, when you got knocked out, you were trying to knock him out because you’d hurt him.’
“‘So, you should be proud of what you’ve done’,” Hearn added. “[He] had a stinker, didn’t box well at all, he boxed great, Dubois. That’s it, and you know he’s very frustrated because of the work that he put in more than anything, but he’s also very determined to fight back and to get another shot at the world heavyweight title.”
