Daniel Dubois’ black glove nearly scraped the base of the renowned Wembley arch with his right hand’s arcing trajectory and extreme throw distance.

It knocked Anthony Joshua hard, so hard that the Greek statue-like man fell to his haunches and stood languidly, like a sap in a zephyr.

The bell spared Joshua the task of having to come to terms with his surroundings too quickly as the first round came to an end, but Dubois was aware of what was ahead of him, and the predator used an unrestrained ferocity to batter Joshua’s head in various directions during the second round.

Dubois was not the clumsy pile of muscles that people sometimes accuse him of being at press conferences; he was an introverted and occasionally uncomfortable man. He was no longer the sullen, passive, and uninterested interview subject; instead, he was pounding the table with his fists, shocking the initially surprised and shook Wembley into silence.

Dubois felt the end was coming. With every hard blow to Joshua’s face, Dubois brought the young fighter closer to the finish line. In the second round, the only one in which Joshua was not knocked out, Dubois outmatched Joshua with his jab. Joshua carried his chin too high for Dubois to miss, and he was too frequently out of range. Joshua also faced a physical match in Dubois, a youthful, powerful, and driven fighter who had his tail up from the opening round and whom he was unable to push back in close calls.

Dubois’s head trainer, Don Charles, who had been the talk of the town during fight week due to a cold-ridden bed, chatted with his client in between sessions, and early in the third, Dubois piled away with both hammers.

Dubois is a powerful striker. I had Dubois on the pads for a shot for the then-BT Sport while I was writing Damage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing.

I received the pads from Dubois’s former instructor, Martin Bowers, at the Peacock Gym in Canning Town.

I held the pads for Daniel, thinking that Dubois and I would start out slowly with the occasional jab or one-two, and he fired a left and right. I’m not a little man. I have possessed numerous pads. As sharp agony radiated through my shoulders and into each hand, I immediately thought about Damage and how someone’s skull or brain could never withstand such a blow. Every time Dubois has engaged in combat since, I have wondered why a human head like Oleksandr Usyk’s does not break apart like a watermelon or result in a catastrophic scene like Pedro Pascal’s death in Game of Thrones.

I have to admit that I barely made it through the round when Bowers came to my rescue—from Dubois, the BT cameras, and myself.

According to promoter Eddie Hearn, Joshua also managed to survive through the third round at Wembley. Joshua was limited to jabbing and holding, or just holding, in his attempt to dislodge the falling cobwebs. Joshua occasionally loaded up huge shots to shift the direction of the one-way traffic he was rooted in.

Joshua, the 2012 Olympic gold champion, lurched painfully backwards as the third round was about to end as Dubois delivered a left hook to his face. His right ankle appeared to buckle beneath him as his back caught the ropes. In an attempt to weather the storm, Joshua raised his gloves, but a leather avalanche crashed into his face and body, sending him to the canvas once more. Referee Marcus McDonnell gave Joshua a count after he got back up on all fours, and since he had survived, he was able to enjoy a minute of silence among the sound of thudding gloves in between rounds.

However, as soon as the fourth one began, Joshua was sent tumbling once more, this time by a little less dangerous looking left and right. Considering what had happened previously, though, it’s possible that Joshua had a concussion and was not fully conscious of his actions, senses, or legs. He stepped up and headed straight back to Dubois because of his default setting of courage and his innate ability to deal with a crisis by fighting fire with fire, but the mission was becoming more and more dangerous.

When Joshua tipped over again, it was instantaneously unclear whether referee McDonnell was waveing the fight off or signaling that he had had enough. Joshua had come forward, tapped his chest on both sides, and plunged back in. Either evaluation would have been adequate.

Joshua was, as it was, still involved in a battle that he should have been out of. The call was a slip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gone was the startled hush of the early rounds at Wembley. The fever had sent the eager audience into a frenzy, as they anticipated the horrific finale. With every barrage that threatened to end the spectacle, ringside spectators, including Conor McGregor, Tyson Fury, Guy Richie, Terence Crawford, Devin Haney, and Rio Ferdinand, bobbed up and down in their seats.

And Dubois’s huge shots were impossible to miss. Joshua stood too straight. With his chin up and launching huge shots without waiting for opportunities, he was retraction in straight lines. In the midst of the mayhem, that last mistake would ultimately lead to his catastrophic downfall.

In the final 30 seconds of the match, Joshua spit more psychologically than physically, sticking his tongue out.

Joshua seems to have found a second wind in the following session, oddly enough. Pop went back to throwing fists. His face revealed a restrained ambition, yet there was something unsettling about his low hands. They welcomed attacks by Dubois.

Remaining composed, Joshua poked his tongue out again, this time knowingly gesturing to a ringsider in a clinch. He was painfully ignorant of the fact that in thirty seconds, the fight would be over and he would be face down, to the horror of almost ninety thousand fans who would vanish into the Wembley night sky.

But no one was prepared for the final demolition, which came as a surprise. Because just a few seconds after nodding and poking his tongue out, Joshua vaulted in with his right hand, causing Dubois to start dancing. A startling, historic turnabout had begun. Joshua’s second right hand. Joshua’s third right hand.

“Oh my God.”

When Joshua attempted to unleash a right uppercut from a distance that was too great, Dubois’s chopping right hand—a shorter, faster punch—cut Joshua off at the source. Dubois was backing off, but he wasn’t reeling. Joshua’s legs were severed from under him by the forceful punch, ending the bout. Joshua found himself in the recovery position, but he was unable to get better.

While neutrals and fight fans leaped deliriously into the air, Joshua aficionados stayed firmly planted in their seats. Before the final hammer blow that ended his evening and this rebuilding phase of Joshua’s incredible career, the fifth-round firefight proved to be merely an oasis, a mirage from the relentless pounding of the previous four rounds, with victory briefly flashing in his eyes.

This event not only signaled a new chapter for this heavyweight era but also for the fighters, regardless of their future paths. With just a few fights remaining between them, the big four of the generation—Usyk, Fury, Joshua, and Wilder—find themselves in a sales pitch that appeals to nostalgia more than it does to deciding who is the best, at least for Joshua and Wilder.

Dubois is now in a position to spearhead the movement of the younger generation. Before Saturday’s bout, he had only boxed 90 professional rounds after turning pro at a young age and having a relatively short amateur career behind him. He has a low mileage in addition to time on his side. He has also gained a great deal of knowledge, especially from his defeats and the fallout from his losses to Joe Joyce and Usyk. additional than two additional knockouts and an impressive KO record could have done, they have turned him into a far more well-rounded fighter.

Even if the lessons were painful at the time, there is much to be said for having to start over, whether strategically or mentally, and building on what was learnt. Probably because of the negativity surrounding those losses, he trained a lot more, adopted a carefree attitude, and prepared himself for the fire that has made him a virtual lock for Fighter of the Year after victories over Joshua, Filip Hrgovic, and Jarrell Miller.

Joshua looked radiant after the bout. Over the weekend, there was a lot of discussion about tactics. However, when Dubois unleashes his heavy artillery, it can be difficult to stick to a pre-fight strategy because the lactic acid buildup in your shoulders will cause your hands to hang low and your legs to lose life. When you add it to tingling neurological impulses that may not even be your own, an already difficult endeavor becomes extremely difficult.

Specifically, Joshua has made a lasting impression on British boxing, and his many advantages will far surpass any imagined drawbacks.

Daniel Dubois should now be given the just light that he deserves. That arcing right hand started Joshua’s downfall, and it may have also heralded the start of a new era in heavyweight boxing. It also marked the beginning of the end for the Watford A-lister on that Wembley eve.