Anthony Joshua stated that he’s not going to retire after losing to IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois in a failed bid to become a three-time champion on Saturday night at Wembley Stadium in London.
Joshua didn’t say his plans for his next fight during the post-fight press conference, but he may fight Tyson Fury in early 2025. His Excellency Turki Alalshikh is expected to pay Joshua enormous money to face Fury. UK fans will still be interested, and they’ll quickly forget about his loss to Dubois.
AJ Needs New Training Team
Joshua (28-4, 23 KOs) sounded like a man denying his loss, saying his defeat resulted from “fine margins” with training. If AJ believes that, he needs to fire his trainer, Ben Davison, and the rest of his team because they failed him.
He should do that anyway, given how he performed on Saturday night in his fifth-round knockout loss to Dubois. DDD sliced through Joshua like a hot knife through butter, knocking him down four times and hurting him a half dozen other times with heavy shots.
In some cases, it’s okay for fighters to hold onto their training teams after a blowout loss like the one Joshua suffered tonight. This time it’s different. AJ looked so utterly ill-prepared for the Dubois fight that sacking trainer Ben Davison was the only logical move.
It’s not personal. This is about ensuring Joshua can be rebuilt to win his next fight and preserve what’s left of his career.
Joshua’s defense and punch resistance were not there tonight. He’s never been known for having a great chin, but tonight, he was getting hurt even by glancing blows from Dubois.
“Always hold your head up high. We took a shot at success, and we came up short. We rolled the dice for the third time,” said Anthony Joshua to the media following his fifth-round knockout loss to Daniel Dubois on Saturday night in London.
“We’re trying to create history for British boxing, and I think we’re doing that. You’re probably asking if I want to continue fighting. Of course, I want to continue fighting. That’s why I said, “We took a chance at success, and we came up short,”‘ said Joshua.
It sounds like Joshua is trying to explain away his loss without confronting the reasons for it head on. The like reasons for reasons for Joshua’s loss:
- Coming in too heavy: AJ appeared to be carrying around too much muscle on his upper body, looking bulky and slow.
- Trainers’ failures: Davison should have had Joshua going after Dubois, firing power shots the entire fight.
- Failing to let hands go: The offensive output from Joshua was low in the first round, which allowed Dubois to take advantage of the situation by going on the attack.
“What does that mean now? We’re going to run away and live to fight another day. I’m a warrior. Also, before I finish. You have to give credit to my opponent, Daniel, even though when I sign up for my opponents, I don’t like him in my head anymore.
“Now, it’s done. I take my hat off to him and his team. There were a few mistakes in there, but that’s the name of the game. Fine margins cost you at the top level,” said Joshua.
AJ made a lot more than a “few mistakes” tonight in his loss to Dubois. He was a walking mess in the ring, fighting like he didn’t know what he was doing and failing to fight the way he needed to for him to win.
Obviously, it goes back to the trainer. Davison is the captain of the ship, and he should be the one who takes the blame for steering Joshua into the rocks.
