Fans have rarely witnessed Anthony Joshua being knocked down multiple times in the ring. Joshua faced one of the toughest defeats of his career against Daniel Dubois. In his first title defense, ‘Triple D’ provided fans with thrilling action, knocking out ‘AJ’ in Round 5 to secure a KO victory. Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn praised Joshua’s resilience despite his recent loss to Dubois.
The fight was stopped after Dubois landed a low blow on Joshua. Referee Marcus McDonnell intervened with just over 90 seconds left in the round and warned Dubois about his punch. Hearn feels that Joshua displayed some ‘inexperience’ during that moment, but he believes that Joshua could have paused the fight. In the post-fight press conference, the boxing promoter stated,
“When Daniel Dubois hit him in the n*ts, in the third or fourth round, I’m screaming at AJ to take the full five minutes. That’s actually a little bit of inexperience. At that point, when he couldn’t stand up – he’s been hit full-blown in the conquers, right? All he’s got to do is go to the ref. But that’s not him. He just went to the ref, ‘I’m fine. Come on, let’s go.’ I’m like, ‘No, no… What are you doing?’”
Hearn mentioned that Joshua shouldn’t retire following his loss to Dubois, suggesting a rematch in 2025. Additionally, Joshua himself dismissed retirement rumors, with ‘AJ’ aiming for a strong comeback.
Eddie Hearn Says Anthony Joshua Still Has More To Give
Joshua suffered the fourth defeat of his career at Wembley, losing to IBF world champion Dubois in front of a packed crowd of over 98,000 spectators. After the loss, many speculated that Joshua might retire. However, Matchroom boxing promoter Eddie Hearn believes Joshua still has more to offer, stating,
“That’s probably the only time in his whole career I’ve seen AJ really hurt, Of course he’s in the closing chapters of his career, there’s no doubt about that, and if you start getting knocked out like that, you certainly have to look at things.”
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Hearn also noted that fans have seen the best of Anthony Joshua in the past year, so it’s hard to conclude that his career is over just because of the knockout by Dubois. While fans may have witnessed a setback, ‘AJ’ has no intention of retiring. Joshua himself has denied any retirement plans and is focused on making a stronger comeback. Though his return is certain, the timing, location, and his next opponent are still up in the air.
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