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Anthony Joshua was absolutely petrified when he was walking to the ring last night. He was genuinely scared and his performance showed that.

People can bang on about trainers and what not, Joshua was scared.
 
Combination of a lot of things really. Dubois has always had incredible power but was put in against nobodies early in his career and spent his 15 fights demolishing tin cans when he really needed to be learning his craft - the first time he stepped up against Joyce he didn't really have anything in his arsenal other than go for the knockout, left himself wide open and got brutally picked off. He's had to rebuild, and whilst the potential was always there he never really looked comfortable or looked like he could step up to the elite level. AJ has never liked getting hit, going back to the Klitschko fight in 2017, and notably disappeared into his shell every time he's took a shot since. He went through a prolonged period of looking incredibly gun shy after losing to Ruiz in 2019 up to knocking out Jermaine Franklin in 2023, but looked closer to his best in the 4 fights since, albeit against poorer opposition. I expected him to stay behind the jab, wait for Dubois to leave himself open - which he frequently does - and spark him. But Dubois came out like a train and rattled him very early on and he had no answer.

So, short answer - Dubois was brilliant and exposed AJ's huge weakness where he goes into panic mode when he takes a shot. You couldn't really say it was poor tactics or a mistake or AJ taking him lightly because Dubois didn't allow him the chance to do anything, he was all over him from the first bell. And AJ deserves some credit because, despite all this, he did rock him with the shot just before the KO and kept getting up every time he was put down.

Regardless of what happens in December, the only place AJ can go next is Fury - there'll always be a huge demand for the fight and it isn't like Wilder where the intrigue is gone. AJ/Hearn will argue Fury doesn't have the brute power Dubois has and wouldn't be able to hunt him down like that. There isn't anywhere else for him after that, it's too late in his career for another rebuild.
The Fury fight will sell but it’s pointless. Should have happened years ago but boxing is terrible for this sort of thing.
 
AJ got battered, should stay away from title fights. Just isn’t up to the standard anymore.

Dubois class last night.

I fancied Dubois to expose all of Joshua's weaknesses in this one.

Joshua doesn't like fighting off the back foot, he backs up in straight lines with barely any head movement, no slipping, blocking and holding. And, his ability to stay in a fight when it's not going his way is suspect. All in all, he lacks fundamental boxing skills on the defense and ring IQ, and he's not built for a war.

Dubois on the other hand, although not a great fighter and another one who walks on in straight lines, has a very good and hard jab and has power. Right from the start, Dubois set the tone with a quicker jab thrown with more intent that had Joshua on the back foot, and it exposed all of Joshua's weaknesses. When Joshua did show some intent, it was usually the same counter right that knocked out Ngannou and Dubois saw it coming every time, and when Joshua did throw it he just stood there waiting to be countered/hit instead of getting his shots off and slipping away. Dubois won pretty much every exchange and there was very little in the Joshua armoury to do something different, he just carried on telegraphing a counter right that made no impact. And then, what was he doing with his hands so low and pulling back with his chin in the air?

'Never really rated Joshua and Dubois dominating him was not age-related on Joshua's part or anything else: Joshua was never a good boxer.
 
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He was held up by the ropes which is a knock down.

One point the ref was very poor, where AJ had been knocked down and he let him get pummelled against the ropes until the bell went.

Seen this happy in similar fashion recently where gloves touch down, but ref shits themselves and just don't stop and give the count.

Did fuck all for the dynamic of the fight though
 
I fancied Dubois to expose all of Joshua's weaknesses in this one.

Joshua doesn't like fighting off the back foot, he backs up in straight lines with barely any head movement, no slipping, blocking and holding. And, his ability to stay in a fight when it's not going his way is suspect. All in all, he lacks fundamental boxing skills on the defense and ring IQ, and he's not built for a war.

Dubois on the other hand, although not a great fighter and another one who walks on in straight lines, has a very good and hard jab and has power. Right from the start, Dubois set the tone with a quicker jab thrown with more intent that had Joshua on the back foot, and it exposed all of Joshua's weaknesses. When Joshua did show some intent, it was usually the same counter right that knocked out Ngannou and Dubois saw it coming every time, and when Joshua did throw it he just stood there waiting to be countered/hit instead of getting his shots off and slipping away. Dubois won pretty much every exchange and there was very little in the Joshua armoury to do something different, he just carried on telegraphing a counter right that made no impact. And then, what was he doing with his hands so low and pulling back with his chin in the air?

'Never really rated Joshua and Dubois dominating him was not age-related on Joshua's part or anything else: Joshua was never a good boxer.

What's mad is AJ has backed up in straight lines while taking his eye off what his opponent is throwing even since fighting Joseph Parker etc.

Didn't think Dubois would have the ability to impose himself before getting sparked. But did everything be needed to do very well. So surprised to see AJ unable to deal with the jab which was mostly coming as a single shot - albeit thrown as an absolute battering ram of a jab.
 
What's mad is AJ has backed up in straight lines while taking his eye off what his opponent is throwing even since fighting Joseph Parker etc.

Even then, I thought the referee did Joshua a massive favour during the Parker fight. Joshua looked very uncomfortable when Parker rushed him and got in close, and the referee prevented that from happening, unfairly in my opinion, and protected Joshua.

I reckon Joshua has always been a fighter with a rigid game plan, little alternative, poor defensive fundamentals, an inability to mix it up and low ring IQ, which all means that the wheels come off when it doesn't go in accordance with that rigid game plan and it starts getting difficult.
 
His whole demeanour went like it was after ruiz tagged him. Looked confused. Body weight all over the place. Awkward. Like his body was saying what the fuck do I do now?
 
Even then, I thought the referee did Joshua a massive favour during the Parker fight. Joshua looked very uncomfortable when Parker rushed him and got in close, and the referee prevented that from happening, unfairly in my opinion, and protected Joshua.

I reckon Joshua has always been a fighter with a rigid game plan, little alternative, poor defensive fundamentals, an inability to mix it up and low ring IQ, which all means that the wheels come off when it doesn't go in accordance with that rigid game plan and it starts getting difficult.

Yep, spot on. This is why I've always thought stylistically Fury would stand him on his head.

However ironically, the very shot Dubois finished AJ off with last night is the exact sort of shot I seen him being walked on to by AJ.

His whole demeanour went like it was after ruiz tagged him. Looked confused. Body weight all over the place. Awkward. Like his body was saying what the fuck do I do now?

Just panics massively when hurt. Doesn't know how to react, invokes an even bigger physiological stress response, HR probably jumps to ~190BPM and compounds the inability to know what you're doing in that situation.
 
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Combination of a lot of things really. Dubois has always had incredible power but was put in against nobodies early in his career and spent his 15 fights demolishing tin cans when he really needed to be learning his craft - the first time he stepped up against Joyce he didn't really have anything in his arsenal other than go for the knockout, left himself wide open and got brutally picked off. He's had to rebuild, and whilst the potential was always there he never really looked comfortable or looked like he could step up to the elite level. AJ has never liked getting hit, going back to the Klitschko fight in 2017, and notably disappeared into his shell every time he's took a shot since. He went through a prolonged period of looking incredibly gun shy after losing to Ruiz in 2019 up to knocking out Jermaine Franklin in 2023, but looked closer to his best in the 4 fights since, albeit against poorer opposition. I expected him to stay behind the jab, wait for Dubois to leave himself open - which he frequently does - and spark him. But Dubois came out like a train and rattled him very early on and he had no answer.

So, short answer - Dubois was brilliant and exposed AJ's huge weakness where he goes into panic mode when he takes a shot. You couldn't really say it was poor tactics or a mistake or AJ taking him lightly because Dubois didn't allow him the chance to do anything, he was all over him from the first bell. And AJ deserves some credit because, despite all this, he did rock him with the shot just before the KO and kept getting up every time he was put down.

Regardless of what happens in December, the only place AJ can go next is Fury - there'll always be a huge demand for the fight and it isn't like Wilder where the intrigue is gone. AJ/Hearn will argue Fury doesn't have the brute power Dubois has and wouldn't be able to hunt him down like that. There isn't anywhere else for him after that, it's too late in his career for another rebuild.
Right on everything there 👏
 
His whole demeanour went like it was after ruiz tagged him. Looked confused. Body weight all over the place. Awkward. Like his body was saying what the fuck do I do now?
Watch him walking to the ring. He was all over the shop, he wanted to be anywhere but that arena.

He needs to walk away from boxing.

Hearn banging on about rematches is just complete delusion.
 

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