September 21st will be known as a slaughterfest as Daniel Dubois demolished Anthony Joshua in a shocking one-sided match that saw the former unified heavyweight champion knocked down four times during his match with Dubois. However, with plenty of experts and peers remarking on Joshua’s shortcomings rather than Dubois’ victory, will Dubois receive any due credit?
Ukrainian unified heavyweight (200+ lbs) champion Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 KO’s) and his manager Alex Krassyk, who were ringside during the Daniel Dubois’ (22-2, 21 KO’s) title defense against Anthony Joshua (28-4, 25 KO’s), could not help but offer fair criticism towards Joshua and his team for his performance. The September 21st bout saw plenty of questionable holes in Joshua’s game; ones that were naturally remarked upon by those that could not seem to understand how a two-time world champion in Joshua seemed to have forgotten the most basic of fundamentals in boxing.
Usyk, who fought both Joshua and Dubois in the recent past, spoke to Boxing King Media following the Dubois-Joshua fight and spoke on how his footwork lacked the fundamental principles that would be expected of someone considered an elite fighter.
“Listen, Anthony [Joshua] [has] one problem, because this position is dangerous,” Usyk said, referring to Joshua leaning back in a fighting stance rather than crouching forward―the latter which helps with the fighter’s center of gravity and furthers aids in both defensive and offensive readiness.
“If you want to step back, [do like this],” Usyk continued, demonstrating himself hunched forward as he took a step back. “Not like this [leaning back with the body], because this―this is dangerous.“
During the bout, Joshua’s defensive principles seemed completely non-existent as Usyk explained, with his entire balance and center of gravity absent when Anthony Joshua couldn’t adopt a proper fighting or defensive stance. This largely contributed to Daniel Dubois landing numerous hard-hitting punches that felled Joshua at least four times.
Alex Krassyk also dropped his two cents on the fight but seemed more baffled with Joshua’s corner, headed by Ben Davison.
“This is a basic rule [that when] the round is over, the bell can not save the fighter from the knockdown,” Krassyk stated to Pro Boxing Fans.
“Only the referee can finish the count, and then the round is considered over, so no one is allowed to jump into the ring before the round [is] finished,” He continued, referring to the first round where Joshua’s team sat down a stool for him to sit on right before the referee started counting after he was knocked down. Notably, the bell rung after Joshua’s team had already lain down their stool.
“It means if someone from the team steps into the ring before the end of the round, it’s a disqualification. That’s a basic rule. I can understand it [the knockdown] was probably emotional for them, so they did not think about the rules, but someone has to take care of it.“
Krassyk also commented on Dubois, hinting that the victory was more so caused by Joshua’s deficiencies rather than Dubois’ performance.
“I couldn’t notice anything special about [Dubois], because AJ [Anthony Joshua] did not perform any offense,” Krassyk also said. “He [Joshua] did not fight [aggressively]. He did not look dangerous for Daniel [Dubois]. For that reason, Daniel felt himself pretty calm and relaxed, because there was no danger and there was no defense in his opponent.
“AJ’s right hand was on his chest [all the time], [and] I can’t understand why, and why his team did not tell him to [put his hands up].“
Joshua’s embarrassing performance has now reigned the conversation of the September 21st card rather than Daniel Dubois―who brushed off his underdog status, and the fact he had been elevated to IBF world champion without actually fighting for it, during his match against Anthony Joshua.
Over the past couple of days, discussions have continued on Joshua’s shortcomings, with Dubois’ trainer Don Charles also recently throwing fuel to the fire by questioning how a two-time world champion in Joshua was not able to block any of Dubois’ jabs,
However, the conversation surrounding Joshua’s performance rather than Dubois’ threatens to actually discredit Dubois who achieved a momentous and historic victory in his first official world title defense [excluding his title defenses as a WBA “regular” champion].
Dubois, 27, is currently on a three-win KO streak with at least two notable names on his record in his last two victories; Croatian heavyweight Filip Hrgovic (17-1, 14 KO’s) and Anthony Joshua.
