IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois dropped Anthony Joshua four times and blitzed his fellow Londoner in five incredible rounds on Saturday at Wembley Stadium.
Dubois had been in control, but moments before the stoppage Joshua battered Dubois and hurt him with three terrifying right hands. Then, as Dubois launched two of his own missiles in response, Joshua crashed face-first and his dreams of becoming a three-time heavyweight champion vanished into the London air after 59 seconds of the fifth round.
“Aren’t you entertained?” shouted an ecstatic Dubois, who now has a record of 22-2 (20 KO).
Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk were ringside, months before their December rematch in Saudi Arabia, and Dubois has thrown the rest of the heavyweight division into a blender, stunning Joshua in such emphatic fashion.
Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) showed heart, courage and determination, but never lost control after a disastrous start.
In front of an electrified crowd, before tens of thousands of fans, Dubois, the champion, accepted the unusual role of having the challenger walk first, something that happened earlier in the night when Hamzah Sheeraz came out to stop Tyler Denny.
Dubois landed the first good right of the fight, and came forward with his brutally hard jab from the start.
Joshua landed an overhand right with a minute left in the session. Dubois looked out of the ring after being met with a thumping right uppercut and before he whipped Joshua with a big right hand that floored the former Olympic champion.