Anthony Joshua's coach reflects on boxer's missteps in the ring against Daniel Dubois: "He's not thinking straight"
Anthony Joshua suffered a massive upset, as underdog Daniel Dubois knocked him out in their IBF title clash at the Wembley Stadium on Saturday. The former unified heavyweight champion's coach Ben Davison believes his boxer couldn't replicate many of the aspects they had worked on in training, during the fight.
'AJ' had little success against Dubois at Wembley. Right from the start, things were not looking good for the 34-year-old. He was dropped in the first round and wobbled multiple times during the fight, before succumbing to a counter right hook in the fifth.
Dubois was also outboxing Joshua during the contest as his jabs more often than not found their mark against a seemingly stiff 'AJ'.
Addressing the press during the event's post-fight press conference, Davison stated that countering the reigning IBF champion was supposed to be a major part of Joshua's game plan.
However, the coach believes that by the end so much had transpired in the fight, 'AJ' was probably not in the mental space to follow through with what they had worked on in training:
"Yeah, we knew Dubois, he returns all the time when you jab, so that was something we were looking to capitalize on. For whatever reason things didn't get going as we'd like to in the early part of the fight... Obviously, there were a few other things as well... There were a couple of very, very, vert short spells of it... and there were a couple of things we wanted to do to follow up moments like that and just didn't apply it the way we'd prepared to unfortunately. But by that point, a lot had gone on, he's not thinking straight. So yeah, difficult, very difficult pill to swallow."
Catch Anthony Joshua's coach Ben Davison's comments below:
Eddie Hearn says Anthony Joshua will trigger rematch clause
Anthony Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn is convinced his fighter will be back for blood against Daniel Dubois.
Talking to iFL TV, Hearn lauded the former two-time world champion for his grit and resilience in the fight after going down in the first round. As the boxing promoter sees it, 'AJ' was mounting a comeback before getting finished in the fifth.
The Matchroom Boxing chairman believes Joshua will trigger a rematch clause against Dubois:
"Listen, we've got to win the rematch. I mean there is a rematch clause. I can't imagine him not triggering it, you know. And he needs to be better, he will be better, and we fancy we can knockout Dubois next time."
Catch Eddie Hearn's comments on a rematch between Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois below (2:07):