Battered Anthony Joshua, 34, insists he WON’T retire in defiant message as Daniel Dubois rematch clause revealed
ANTHONY JOSHUA insisted he will NOT retire following his brutal loss to Daniel Dubois – and has the option for a rematch.
AJ was floored FOUR times in front of a British-record 96,000 fans at Wembley Stadium.
ReutersAnthony Joshua talked down retirement following his brutal loss to Daniel Dubois[/caption]
ReutersDubois won in round five[/caption]
GettyThis was the finishing right hand[/caption]
Joshua bravely got himself up from the canvas until he simply could not any more.
And a crunching right hand from Dubois in round five closed the show.
AJ, battered and beaten, showed further resilience by refusing to entertain talk of hanging up the gloves.
He said: “Before I came here, I’m always saying to myself, ‘I’m fighter for life.’
“We rolled the dice at success and we came up short and we roll it again. We keep rolling the dice.”
Joshua, 34, was down in round one following a looping and thudding right hand.
He was also floored in the third, fourth and finally finished off in the fifth when a thudding cross from Dubois, 27, landed on AJ’s chin.
Dubois called out Oleksandr Usyk, 37, to a rematch following his round nine stoppage loss last year.
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Round by round: How Dubois demolished Joshua
ANTHONY JOSHUA bravely picked himself up from the floor against Daniel Dubois – until he could no more.
AJ was floored four times in five rounds by Dubois before a thudding counter right closed the show in dramatic fashion.
Here, SunSport’s Jack Figg takes you round-by-round from the Wembley war.
ROUND 1
Dubois comes out sharp with the jab as Joshua bounces around struggling to deal with the piston-like left.
Huge right hand from Dubois has AJ staggering backwards with his hands far too low from the opening bell.
Joshua made to pay for the mistake as he circles out with his hands down and gets dropped by an overhand right.
ROUND 2
Joshua – saved only by the bell after being floored – struggles to get going as he takes shots to the face.
AJ is tottering and teetering around the ring with his guard again dangerously low and inviting pressure on.
Joshua is attempting to get back into the bout but his jab looks far too lazy – he doesn’t look to have recovered from the knockdown.
ROUND 3
AJ comes out with more intent but swings wildly with a right and connects with only thin air.
Dubois pours on the pressure and hammers Joshua into the corner scoring another knockdown.
The bell sounds but Dubois lands one or two afterwards – again AJ is saved by the clock as the writing looks on the wall.
ROUND 4
Disaster strikes again with Joshua floored once more – losing his balance as he touches the canvas.
The referee gives AJ another fighting chance and Dubois lands a low blow – giving the challenger some valuable respite.
Dubois slows down as four rounds come to a close with Joshua showing sensational resilience to hang in there.
ROUND 5
Joshua lands a huge right hand and Dubois legs buckle – an astonishing turnaround looks to be on the cards.
AJ pins Dubois onto the ropes and attempts one of his signature uppercuts but the countering right hand gets there first.
Joshua is caught flush on the chin, dropped once more and this time out for good. Dubois scores a stunning KO win.
But promoter Eddie Hearn revealed there is a clause in the contract which gives Joshua the option of a rematch.
Hearn said: “I’m sure he will exercise that rematch clause. I mean, I think that’s a given.
“But he’ll need a rest and it’s a dangerous fight this guy’s growing in confidence but he’ll believe he can hurt Dubois.
“He’ll believe he can beat him but full credit to Daniel Dubois he deserves all the credit it was a great performance from Daniel.”
