Eddie Hearn believes Daniel Dubois may crack under the pressure when he faces Anthony Joshua in front of 96,000 fans on September 21st at Wembley Stadium in London. Hearn expects Dubois’ game plan to quickly unravel during the fight, but he doesn’t know if that would be good for Joshua.
Hearn’s Attempts to Unnerve Dubois
The Matchroom promoter Hearn needs IBF heavyweight champion Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs) to crumble from the stress from the fans and going up against the fighter Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs), who has carried British boxing on his back for the last decade since turning pro in 2013.
Hearn is trying everything he can to unnerve Dubois, 26, because he doesn’t want the AJ gravy train to end. He’s been a big money-maker and an outstanding recruitment tool to bring in other fighters to Matchroom, like the pied piper of Hamelin.
If Joshua, 34, loses this fight, especially if it’s by knockout to Dubois, it could be it for him. Yeah, he’ll take the rematch, but Dubois would put a final exclamation mark on his career by destroying him a second time.
It would be wise for Hearn to talk Joshua out of fighting a rematch with Dubois if he loses because this isn’t Andy Ruiz, and he can count on eating himself to a state of obesity. Dubois will stay in shape for a rematch and do a number on Joshua a second time.
Will Dubois’ Game Plan Fall Apart?
“It’s going to be interesting to see how he [Dubois] deals with the moment because, for AJ, these nights are bread & butter,” said Eddie Hearn to the talkSport Boxing YouTube channel, expressing doubt that Daniel Dubous will be able to handle the pressure of facing Anthony Joshua on September 21st in front of a huge 90,000+ crowd at Wembley Stadium in London.
If Dubois didn’t mentally unravel from his last three fights against Filip Hrgovic, Jarrell Miller, and Oleksandr Usyk, he won’t fall apart from fighting Joshua in front of a large crowd. Hearn needs to worry about Joshua, who comes unglued when stressed out, and is a mental basketcase. He quit in his loss to Andy Ruiz and looked like he did the same thing in his first fight against Usyk.
“I know Dubois has boxed Usyk in Poland, but this is different. Walking out with 96,000,” said Hearn. “The plan that His Excellency has for fight week is going to blow your mind. I don’t want to give it away, but it’s going to be such a huge moment for Daniel Dubois that you have to be made of the right stuff all week, the pressure and particularly on fight night.”
Dubois has proved himself in his last three fights that he’s battle-tested and can handle fighting in front of a large crowd for a stressful fight. Joshua fell apart in his second fight with Usyk, going nuts immediately after, tossing his belts out of the ring, and talking insane babble to the audience. I was waiting for the men in white coats to take Joshua away after putting a strait jacket on him.
“The ringwalk, the moment, and I think with Daniel, whatever the game plan is, will probably unravel very quickly, which might make him even more dangerous because he might just go for it,” said Hearn.
Dubois’ game plan is obvious, isn’t it? There’s nothing to unravel because Dubois is going to be going after Joshua from the opening bell, pushing a fast pace, trying to take his head off. Dubois is not going to fight at a slow pace because that would allow Joshua to line him up with one of his right hands, which he knocked out Francis Ngannou and Robert Helenius with.
“If he loses to Dubois, I won’t know where the conversation goes with Anthony Joshua because he’s lost to someone he wasn’t expected to, and he’s lost to a British fighter. That takes away some of his legacy,” said Simon Jordan about Joshua.
A Loss Could Spell the End for Joshua
If he loses, Joshua will probably want a rematch, but he should forget about it and go in another direction.
His Excellency Turki Alalshikh says he wants to make the fight between Joshua and Tyson Fury next, and he doesn’t care if either of them loses their next fight. Joshua should take him up on the offer and walk away from a loss to Dubois.
AJ can fight Fury twice and then attempt to avenge his loss to Dubois if he chooses not to retire. By the time Joshua faces Fury twice, he’ll be 36 and too old to have any chance of beating Dubois.
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