I've not seen any modern era heavyweight look like this. Dubois had speed, power, explosiveness, accuracy and resolve to win. Joshua seemed confident until he got hit and that seemingly shattered his confidence. This fight particularly reminds me of Mike vs Berbick where Berbick went stumbling around the ring when Mike began teeing off on him. Joshua did much the same. I was expecting Joshua to win a moderately tough fight, but in no way did I think Dubois was going to steamroll the guy. I gotta give props where its due. This content is protected
Agreed, looks like a big mike tyson. He has been on a dominating run. Those last three wins are a statement and a half. He really is terrifying in there, that jab is like a piston. Totallt verifies what people have been saying about Dubois jab, punch power and overall raw strength as mentioned bu Johnny fisher, Miller, Joe Joyce. They both took some big shots but Dubois took it better. AJ had a very mediocre jab compared to Dubois.
He knew what he had to do (back Joshua up/hurt him early). And he went out and did it from the first seconds of the bout. Joshua got jumped and wasn't ready. For all of his skill and experience, he didn't know how to deal with someone coming at him hard and making him go backwards. He used absolutely no head movement and overall his defence was poor again for someone of his experience. He just thought/expected that he'd be able to land the big right hand first...
In the second round especially. He was throwing vicious, leaping and explosive left hooks like a young hungry Mike Tyson. Very accurate too. Punches were landing flush on the chin. Dubois was on a mission. Gangsta rapper AJ had no chance that night.
The left right relentless combinations to the body in the second and third round reminded of a young Tyson
100% Dubois knew he had to land something meaningful on Joshua early doors to create that doubt in Joshua to get him questioning himself and remove some of his recently regained confidence and tbf Dubois executed this strategy perfectly on the night. Whilst watching the fight I also noticed that during the fight Dubois looked very Tyson like during the numerous clinches and at times the way he threw his offensive hooks .
Dubois seems to have had a huge mindset change, you could see it in the Miller fight where he for the first time he dug deep to win where previously he just mentally quit when things got tough. Now he's more experienced, has been through tough fights and losses but also won when things haven't gone his way. He's like this machine right now who methodically walks you down and yeah he'll get hit but he never doubts himself like before, he will keep coming regardless of how tough things get. I disagree about Joshua, he looked like a deer caught in the headlights before the fight. He was vacantly just staring into space as the announcer was doing his thing, like his mind was somewhere else. Dubois in contrast looked focused and locked in the difference between the two in terms of body language was in stark contrast and with hindsight it was a clear sign of what was about to unfold. But yeah Dubois deserves credit, he's improved a lot recently. I though Parker would win my most improved heavyweight of 2024 but Dubois has somehow picked up counter punching out of nowhere. I was a heavy critic of Dubois, he was so damn basic and predictable before but he does what is most important for any prospect/contender, he's learned from his mistakes, he's improved, he isn't the same fighter who quit against Joyce. This Dubois beats the Joyce that beat him before.
