In a massive upset victory, IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) destroyed former two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) by a fifth-round knockout on Saturday night at Wembley Stadium in London.
Dubois dropped Joshua with a peach of a right hand in the fifth, and the referee counted out AJ. Dubois knocked Joshua down in rounds one, three, and four earlier. The cumulative effects of those knockdowns left Joshua in a weakened position going into round five. The time of the stoppage was 59 seconds in round five.
Undercard results
– Hamzah Sheeraz (21-0, 17 KOs) made easy work of EBU middleweight champion Tyler Denny (19-3-3, 1 KOs), scoring a second-round knockout. Sheeraz knocked Denny down twice in the short contest. In the opening seconds of round one, Sheeraz blasted Denny to the canvas with a left hook.
After backing Denny to the ropes in round two, Sheerez flattened him with a left hand to the head. Denny beat the count, but the referee didn’t like the looks of him and halted the fight. The time of the stoppage was at 2:05 of round two.
This fight was disappointing because Denny had no power to keep Sheeraz off of him. With Denny’s one career knockout on his resume, he didn’t belong in the same ring with the powerful Sheeraz, and he had the wrong game plan by choosing to slug with him.
Sheeraz needs to be fighting at super middleweight or light heavyweight because he’s way too big for the 160-lb division with his size. Obviously, it makes sense for Sheeraz to stay at middleweight for as long as possible because he’ll have problems at 168 with his weak chin, and he wouldn’t be able to compete if he fought at 175. He’s too big for the fighters at 160.
– In the fight of the night thus far, Joshua Buatsi (19-0, 13 KOs) defeated Wily Hutchinson (18-2, 13 KOs) by a 12-round split decision to win the WBO interim light heavyweight title. Buatsi’s body punching and hard power shots were too much for the 26-year-old Hutchinson, who was dropped in rounds six and nine.
Hutchinson was docked a point for using his head in the seventh, which came at a bad time because he appeared to have had Buatsi hurt when the referee called a time-out. The judges’ scores were 113-112 for Hutchinson, 117-108, and 115-110 for Buatsi.
Hutchinson came back strong in the final three rounds, nailing a tired-looking Buatsi repeatedly with hard punches. In the 11th, Hutchinson opened up with a flurry of shots that had Buatsi in bad trouble. The action was one-sided in round twelve, with Hutchinson battering a tired Buatsi with punches and getting the crowd screaming at the rally.
– Anthony Cacace (23-1, 8 KOs) retained his IBO super featherweight title with a 12-round unanimous decision over Josh Warrington (34-4-1, 8 KOs). After a slow start, Cacace took over the fight in the third round, catching Warrington repeatedly with long hooks and powerful right hands. The scores were 118-110, 117-111 and 117-111.
In the fourth, Cacace stunned the 33-year-old former featherweight champion Warrington several times with big punches but couldn’t put him away.
Warrington fought well in rounds eight and nine, throwing combinations on the inside and not allowing Cacace to fight on the outside. In the tenth, Cacace was cut over his left eye from a clash of heads. He fought well in the 11th, catching Warrington with uppercuts in close.
Needing a knockout going into the 12th, Warrington went out with a whimper, choosing to hold and maul rather than go for the KO against Cacace.
– Junior middleweight contender Josh Kelly (16-1-1, 8 KOs) defeated substitute Ishmael Davis (13-1, 8 KOs) by a close 12-round majority decision in a middleweight fight. Davis hurt Kelly in the twelfth round with big shots, bloodying his left eye and nose. Kelly was forced to hold and move to survive the round to get the narrow win.
#2 WBC-ranked 154-lb contender Kelly boxed and moved throughout the fight, using his typical potshot style to deter the offense of the previously unbeaten Davis.
Kelly began to tire in the championship rounds and took shots from a desperate-looking Davis. The pressure from Davis wore Kelly out, and he didn’t have the engine to evade Davis in the 11th and 12th.
Fortunately for Kelly, he’d won enough of the rounds to win a close decision, but it was not the performance he had wanted, obviously. The scores were 114-114, 115-113, and 115-114.
– Josh Padley (15-0, 4 KOs) picked up his biggest career win, defeating highly ranked lightweight Mark Chamberlain (16-1, 12 KOs) by a ten-round unanimous decision in a light welterweight fight.
This was a big upset, as the heavy favorite Chamberlain was expected to breeze through the light puncher Padley. The judges’ scores were 95-93, 96-92, and 96-92.
The fight had been close through the first seven rounds, but Padley turned things up a notch when he dropped Chamberlain with a left hand in round weight. That knockdown changed the fight, as Chamberlain became wreckless, trying to pay Padley back and opening himself up for big shots.
In the ninth, Chamberlain was docked a point for pushing Padley. Chamberlain had been shoving Padley throughout the fight, but he finally paid the price for his roughhouse tactics.
