Anthony Joshua says he made a mistake of brawling with IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois in the fifth round last Saturday night.
(Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)
Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) feels that he should have been more “sniper-esque” by focusing on pinpoint shots rather than going for the knockout by unloading with punches, which Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) capitalized on by nailing him with a counter right to score a knockout.
Throwing single shots might have worked for Joshua after he’d been hurt, but it wouldn’t have led to him winning if that was his game plan going into their contest last Saturday night at Wembley Stadium in London.
He wouldn’t have been able to keep Dubois by throwing only single punches. That wouldn’t have worked at all because Dubois would have gotten to him anyway and knocked him out.
If Joshua really believes that being a sniper would have made a difference, he should activate the rematch clause to fight Dubois again so he can show the fans. No one is going to believe that Joshua could have won if he’d used a different tactic unless he proves it.
“First round, overhand right, chin in the air, no defense, kaboom,” said Anthony Joshua to BBC Sport on what went wrong for him in his loss to Daniel Dubois last Saturday night. “It was a bit of a downhill slope from there. I tried to change the tide, but it just wasn’t my night.”
Joshua was trying to get away from Dubois when he was dropped in the first round, which showed that he would have had problems if he’d focused on using a hit-and-run sniper approach to the fight.
Fans believe that Joshua is finished as a fighter and was ruined by Andy Ruiz Jr. in 2019. Until last Saturday night, Joshua hadn’t faced a big puncher since the Ruiz Jr. second fight.
“I caught him with a good shot, and then I tried to go for it. Then I got caught with an overhand right when I was throwing an uppercut,” said Joshua. “The thing is, I wasn’t setting shots up. In a shootout like that, you really have to be a bit more sniper-esque, but when you’ve been hit a few times, I’m in survival mode.”
Joshua didn’t do anything for the first four rounds, and when he finally started fighting in the fifth, he was knocked out by Dubois. It wasn’t a good look for Joshua and it showed that he could no longer beat good fighters because of his weak chin. Joshua had never proven that he could beat good fighters and got lucky with his best career victory against 41-year-old Wladimir Klitschko.
“I just wanted to get him out of there. We had a shootout, and he hit me. Nah, we’re gladiators. We had a bad night at the office,” said Joshua when asked if he was going to retire. “Listen, the people that want to see me fight, I’ll fight.”
