‘That’s no way for a soldier to die’ and other Dubois-Joshua reactions

It didn’t take long for the opinions to come rolling in regarding Daniel Dubois’ stunning victory over Anthony Joshua.

The view from Carl Froch – a long-time critic of Joshua – is somewhat cruel, Naseem Hamed voices his concerns for AJ’s future, while Tony Bellew is more supportive. Joshua, meanwhile, is as determined to come back as Dubois is to continue his swashbuckling run of form.

Carl Froch:

Let’s be fair to AJ, he came out in round five and had a go. It was almost his last hurrah and he caught Dubois with a right hand. Dubois soaked it up, his left leg did a little wobble, he was backed up, but Anthony Joshua got greedy… he went forward, he threw another right hand, [but] Dubois was poised, he was waiting for him. If you watch AJ’s attack, it was a novice attack, it wasn’t even amateur level. It was white collar boxing, it was chin in the air, his left arm was down here, and an uppercut from here. As he threw the uppercut, with a second-class postage stamp on it, let’s be honest, [Dubois] saw that one coming; the right hand came back, clipped him on the chin and AJ went down, face first, arse in the air, a little breakdance move. I’m not being horrible, but that’s no way for a soldier to die.

Naseem Hamed:

Whether he can or he can’t [come back], I’d prefer him not to. He’s had his day in the sun, he’s done great, he won amazing world titles, defended them, earned his dough. Listen, he should bow out gracefully and that’s it, done. Because when he gets hit on the chin, well, we don’t want to talk about that right now.

Tony Bellew:

I got it completely wrong. One guy comes out and lets his hands go, Joshua starts and he’s fencing – it was the wrong approach. I hope he says he wants a rematch because when Joshua lets his hands go he’s the most destructive heavyweight in the world. Tonight he didn’t let his hands go quick enough. Dubois is world champion, I give him all the praise and the credit. Do I think Joshua can come back? I don’t think he can, I know he can.

Ben Davison:

For whatever reason we didn’t get going in the early part of the fight. We didn’t get the things we were looking to get going, going early. There was that very short spell when he landed the right hand and, we wanted to follow up that moment, but we didn’t apply it in the way we had prepared, but, by that point, a lot had gone on and he’s not thinking straight… I just want to say that ee and my team have received a hell of a lot of credit for good performances he’s [Joshua] had, so it’s important we take responsibility for the bad performance as well.

Tyson Fury:

Fantastic job, fair play to young Dan. Everybody wrote him off. Coming here he was the world champion and everyone treated him like he was a bum. He showed what he’s made of, fantastic, fair play. Listen, it’s heavyweight boxing, losing happens doesn’t it. It happened to me, it can happen to anybody.

Anthony Joshua:

Always walk with your head high. We took a shot at success and came up short, unfortunately. We rolled the dice, man. That’s 13 world title fights, not everyone has been successful but every one’s been fun and entertaining. We’re trying to create history for British boxing and I think we’re doing that. I thank the press, the media and the fans for their support.

Do I still want to continue fighting? Of course, I want to continue fighting. We took a shot at success and we came up short – and what does that mean now? That we’re going to run away? We’re going to live to fight another day. I’m a warrior.

I have to give credit to my opponent, Daniel. Even though, when I sign up to fight opponents I don’t really like them in my head anymore but, now it’s done, I take my hat off to him and say well done to him and his team.

I thank my team as well for the way they prepared me. There were some mistakes in there, fine margins will cost you at the top level.

Daniel Dubois:

It feels great. I want to keep this belt, I want to keep this train running, it’s great. For sure [I want the undisputed fight]. It’s about fulfilling my full potential now.