Anthony Joshua suffered the fourth defeat of his professional career against Daniel Dubois, with several now calling for the two-time heavyweight champion to retire
Eddie Hearn has revealed Anthony Joshua went quiet after he told his client he may only have one more fight in boxing.
The two-time heavyweight world champion suffered a fifth-round knockout defeat to Daniel Dubois on Saturday night at Wembley. ‘AJ’ came into the fight as a big favourite, however, from the opening round, ‘Dynamite’ was quick to asset his dominance, with Joshua struggling to deal with his opponent’s power.
Dubois had sent Joshua tumbling to the canvas in the first round, and it would only get worse for the former world champion. The Brit went on to drop ‘AJ’ four times in total before securing a sensational knockout to retain his IBF title. Many have called for Joshua to retire, but Joshua recently issued a statement, claiming he still believes he can become a three-time heavyweight champion despite suffering the fourth defeat of his professional career.
And speaking to the The Stomping Ground, Hearn revealed that he told his client he’s likely got one to three fights left. “As I said to him (Joshua) on the phone ‘you’ve probably got between one and three fights left.’ And it then went a bit quiet and he kind of realised ‘blimey, we’re on the home straight. We really are,'” he said
Immediately after the fight, Hearn revealed there was a rematch clause and that his client would likely activate it. That said Frank Warren, the Queensberry Promotions chief, told talkSPORT that there is no such clause in Dubois’ paperwork, but would entertain the idea of a second fight if both parties want to do it.
Hearn has now stated that he believes Joshua’s first choice will be the rematch: “Yeah, he performed badly on the night, but listen, Dubois was brilliant,” he added. “But I can’t tell you ‘he didn’t look good in training, he didn’t look good in sparring,’ he looked fantastic. So, he wants to put it right, and I believe his first choice would always be the rematch.”
While Joshua had given a less than kind verdict on Dubois’ talents when in his corner, the Brit acknowledged how his opponent was able to achieve victory on Saturday night, with the first knock down being the crucial moment in the fight. “First round? Overhand right, chin in the air. No defence,” Joshua told BBC after the fight. “Kaboom. And it was a bit of a downhill slope from there. Tried to change the tide but it just wasn’t my night.
“Yeah, and then I caught him with a good shot [in the fifth round], I think,” he added. “And then I tried to go for it and I got caught with an overhand right when I was throwing the uppercut. Thing is, I wasn’t setting up my shots. In a shootout like that, you really have to be a bit more sniper-esque. But when you’ve been hit a few times, it’s survival mode and I want want to get him out of there and we had a shootout and he hit me.”
