His Excellency Turki Alalshikh reports that Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois is sold out for their fight next month on September 21st at the 90,000-seat Wembley Stadium in London, England.
Dubois’ Transformation on Turki Alalshikh’s Cards
IBF heavyweight champion Dubois is an entirely different fighter when competing in Turki’s events, and Joshua could be in for a disastrous evening on September 21st. With the way Dubois, 26, fights now, AJ’s experience advantage means zero.
Indeed, Joshua’s mileage and age on his odometer could work against him in this fight because he’s like an old car with 300K miles. Promoter Eddie Hearn’s attempts to make Joshua seem brand new by feeding him four tomato cans won’t help him inside the ring against Dubois.
It helps to sell tickets and bring in PPV buys, but it’s useless inside the squared circle with a young, hungry lion looking to tear Joshua apart. I wouldn’t be surprised if Dubois knocks Joshua out within three rounds because AJ is going to force a war right away, and that’s going to bring out the killer instinct in ‘DDD.’
That’s potentially good for Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) and his fans because many people can watch him live in person at Wembley Stadium. However, it could be bad if Joshua, 34, is knocked out by the young gun, IBF heavyweight champion Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs), because many fans would see it.
AJ needs this win to increase interest in a fight against Tyson Fury next year. That one will be huge if both fighters win their next fight. Fury faces WBA, WBC, and WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk in a rematch on December 21st. Many fans think Fury, 36, will lose, and I do too.
“I think it’s important. The age and maturity definitely play a factor,” said Peter Fury to the Secondsout YouTube channel about whether Anthony Joshua’s experience advantage over Daniel Dubois will play a factor on September 21st.
The General Admission tickets for the legendary fight between Joshua and Dubois in #RiyadhSeasonCard are sold out, with only a limited number of Platinum and Hospitality tickets remaining 🥊🤩
📍Wembley Stadium
🗓 September 21, 2024 #BigTime #RiyadhSeason pic.twitter.com/Vvz6PAZqVk— TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) August 23, 2024
“He’s been around the block and is a fully mature man now, Joshua,” Peter said about Joshua. “That’s the reason I edge towards him. The other one [Dubois] is a young fighter with plenty of talent and wants it as well. He seems to have grown a lot from his failures.”
Joshua’s Recent Tomato Can Opponents
– Francis Nganou
– Otto Wallin
– Robert Helenius
– Jermaine Franklin
Those are not good enough competition to say that Joshua has “fully matured” since his back-to-back losses to Oleksandr Usyk. All you can say is that Joshua beat four fighters that he would have beaten even before he turned pro. He would have beaten those fighters back in 2012 when he was still competing in the amateur ranks.
To say that Joshua has matured, he would need to prove himself against the best, like Usyk, Martin Bakole, Joseph Parker, Zhilei Zhang, Dubois, and, to a certain extent, Tyson Fury.
“He’s come on a lot. For all these fights, Joshua has got to be on his total A-game plus,” said Peter. “It’s not a given. He’s got to be on his A-game for this fight, for sure. Just on his experience factor, I edge him as a favorite.”
Peter is like many fans who siding with Joshua because of his experience, but without looking at the opposition he’s been facing in recent years. All we know is Joshua failed twice against Usyk, and once against an in shape Andy Ruiz. He likely would have lost the rematch if Ruiz hadn’t partyed and eaten his way to 300+ lbs, then taken a nonchalant approach to training camp.
“You have to be able to miss punches in the heavyweight division. For one, to have longevity and to keep from going face-down on the canvas. There are no heavyweights walking through punches because, eventually, you’re going to get ironed out,” said Peter.
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