Why did Anthony Joshua lose so bad against Daniel Dubois

AJ's speed and power is one of his strongest attributes?

 

I think he'd lost the fight before he got into the ring. He tried all his gangster stuff, sitting in a vest threatening Dan, who looked every inch the champion, and Dubois clearly wasn't phased. Then you have the sparring rumours playing on AJ mind. I think AJ is a bloody good boxer, and game as they come...look at the amount of times he tried to get up! But, Dan was all wrong for him. As a boxer he knew it, and as a man, he knew it. And that knowledge meant he had nowhere to go on fight night...yet he STILL almost pulled it out of the bag!! Two good fighters going at it, last man standing is never gonna suit Anthony...

 

His poor movement got exposed again, not too much about it tbf.

 

He's always had a weakness too movement, we saw it vs Savon and we saw it vs Usyk. While he's tried to work on it, it simply has never been a facet of his game that's ever come naturally. But I don't think Dubois is really the fighter to expose that flaw as his movement is even worse, he basically moves in straight lines 90% of the time.

Joshua simply fought a dumb and timid fight, allowed Dubois to dictate the fight from the opening bell. Joshua couldn't even establish his jab like Joyce did against Dubois. Also the ending was so dumb, he was spamming the right hand over and over, even a fighter with Dubois' limited ring IQ was able to time him with a counter to end it.

 

He came out looking like an amateur with his hands down and chin in the air against a power puncher. He got clipped in the first round and never really recovered. When he was looking like he's coming back he made a tactical mistake and rolled the dice in the wrong moment. That's all she wrote. Terrible performance front to back. AJ didn't win a minute of that fight.

 

I think Dubois ring IQ is underrated. Watch his feet. Rarely out of position. Rarely wastes punches. Patient. History will hopefully prove me right...or wrong.

 

The knockout was from him charging towards Dubois with the same punch twice, and Dubois timed him when he tried to repeat it

 

He got hit clean early pulling straight back and never fully recovered. I think people are making this way more complex than it is.

 

This is too funny.

Joshua is "declined" because he lost. Before the fight everyone (probably you too) was saying how this was the best version ever, that this was the smartest, most prepared version of this fighter.

He was 34 years old, when most HW's are at their absolute peak.

He was in his prime, and he was riding the confidence of a recent win streak. You saw the "prime, fully confident" version of your favorite fighter get absolutely pummeled by Dubois.

You can write silly little puff pieces all day. Saying a fighter is no longer prime the second they lose is the oldest fanboy play.

 

Damn son, tell em how you really feel! Can't disagree though for the most part

 

What I remember about the fight is that, as usual, Joshua didn't move his stiff head. He had leaky defense and still doesn't know how to cover up or hold to survive. If you get rocked badly and are tasting the canvas, you lost that round. I don't see the point in Joshua or Spence "wanting to get back at" their opponents right away only to get dropped again. Stall, run, clinch for dear life, do what you need to do. You've already lost the round, do you want to lose the fight too? Joshua isn't built for exchanging with a big hard puncher so he'd better find a way to survive when hurt or he'll just get ktfo the next time he faced an elite opponent again.

Joshua wasn't setting up his punches, it seemed he was just throwing without too much of a plan or taking aim/timing carefully. You can't do that against a dangerous guy like Dubois who hits like a truck and will capitalize on your mistakes. You can hit as hard as a gorilla or have the speed of a cheetah, but it doesn't matter if you can't consistently land on the opponent. Joshua has good power, good fundamentals, and is athletic, but he sorely lacks in ring IQ and the intangibles to make those gifts effective.

 

Is that moving forward or backwards? There's a massive difference. A lot of fighters can't deploy power moving back.

 

To me Joshua had the same look he had vs Ruiz where he didn't look confident and it showed when the fight started. Dubois come out aggressive and dictated the fight from the opening bell on the front with his jab and he got caught Joshua with a perfect right hand that Joshua simply never recovered from.

 

AJ has No Chin. None.

 

Poor chin, no recuperative power. Could actually outpoint Dubois for a few rounds, maybe even catch him, but it could devolve into Joshua-Ruiz I at any moment.