TThe pay-per-view fight card that took place in Saudi Arabia on December 23rd last year was billed as “Judgment Day,” and for some of the fighters who took part, that was exactly what it was.
But for Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois, it was a day of rebirth.
The two British heavyweights were each at one point seen as the future of their division, and perhaps boxing as a whole, but both suffered shock stoppage losses, both bounced back somewhat but fell short to Oleksandr Usyk and were written off to varying degrees heading into Judgment Day.
Sure, they both won fights they were supposed to win: “AJ” was the surefire favorite to beat Otto Wallin, and Dubois was projected to beat Jarrell Miller.
But the “how” matters. It always does in boxing.
Dubois overcame heavy striking from Miller in the early rounds, showed a willingness to fight on the offensive and defensive, gradually gaining the upper hand, and rather than settle for a decision victory, he stopped the previously unbeaten “Big Baby” with eight seconds left in what was the most significant win of his career given his accomplishments in the ring to that point.
Joshua, facing an opponent whose only previous defeat had been a close 12-round loss to then-champion Tyson Fury, came out confident and aggressive, thoroughly out-maneuvering Wallin, mauling him one-sidedly until his corner surrendered in the fifth round. It was AJ's most significant win, his first in at least three years since Kubrat Pulev and perhaps his first in four years since the rematch with Andy Ruiz, and perhaps his most impressive win of his entire career, dominating a world-class fighter from start to finish.
On Judgment Day, both Joshua and Dubois declared they were still fighters to be reckoned with, and both improved on their performances in their next bouts.
It's easy to dismiss Joshua's win over Francis Ngannou on March 8 as merely a high-profile Butterbean vs. Bart Gunn bout. It was, no doubt, a farcical show of force. But it was still a statement win for Joshua. This fighter is blessed with all the physical gifts a heavyweight champion could ask for, and he reminded the world what he's capable of. And he's not just doing it for himself. boxing.
For defenders of the sport, Fury's right hand erased any embarrassment in his win over Ngannou.
On June 1, Dubois released his own statement, not to the boxing world at large, but to himself.
In another packed undercard bout in Riyadh, Dubois was the underdog against unbeaten Croatian Filip Hrgovic, and the oddsmakers seemed to get it right in the first two rounds as “Dynamite” landed a series of right punches. But as with Miller, Dubois persevered after coming under criticism for succumbing in losses to Usyk and Joe Joyce. And bit by bit, Dubois turned the tide of the fight. By the fifth round, Dubois was in control. In the seventh round, Dubois rocked Hrgovic with a right punch. In the eighth round, the bout was stopped.
Nearly five months after the best and most meaningful win of his career, Dubois earned another win, the best and most meaningful of his career.
The parallel paths of these two British heavyweights They will meet at Wembley Stadium on September 21stIt was officially announced on Wednesday, and the timing couldn't have been more perfect. A dream cross-continental showdown with Deontay Wilder has finally become irrelevant for Joshua, while a big British mega-fight with Fury has yet to materialise. But AJ now faces an in-form Dubois.
If you had told me before Judgment Day that this battle would happen in nine months and that I would care this much about it, I would not have believed it.
On December 22, 2023, both Joshua and Dubois looked more like throwbacks to the British “horizontal heavyweight” era than future standard-bearers for the glamorous division. But they're the hottest heavyweights right now outside of Oleksandr Usyk, and the concept of them trading leather is just mouthwatering.
This is despite the utterly silly fact that it's being advertised as some kind of heavyweight championship bout.
Joshua did his best to erase boxing's shame when he thoroughly destroyed Ngannou, but like a salamander that regrows its limbs after they are cut off, boxing creates new shame with every brief glimpse of sanity.
Usyk unified all the belts, became the undisputed champion, brought common sense and order to the division, cleared up all the confusion about who was the champion, and then he had to give up one of the belts to give it to Dubois, because… it's boxing. Fans should never be treated like adults.
It's bad enough to create a silly “controversy” about Usyk's dominance starting the night of September 21 if Joshua and Dubois are fighting for the vacant title, but this is even more ridiculous than that. Joshua vs. Dubois is a fight between two in-form heavyweight contenders, with Dubois defending his title against AJ.
Narratively, the up-and-comer Dubois is playing the role of challenger against the veteran, but don't believe the evidence you see and hear – instead, accept what the sanctioning bodies are saying: Dubois is defending his world championship against Joshua.
Usyk is still active, but we are led to believe that one of the two fighters with a combined record of 0-3 against him should rightfully be called “champion.”
It makes me sad because Dubois vs Joshua is a great fight in itself – two contenders trying to establish themselves as the most deserving men to challenge the winner of Usyk vs Fury 2 – it doesn't need to have higher stakes than that.
Dubois promoter Frank Warren nearly said the perfect line to hype up the fight during a press conference this week, but it was frustrating.
“You couldn't get a better fight than this,” Warren said. “Two Brits for the IBF title, two of the hardest punchers in the heavyweight division. You know, when you get two good British fighters for a prestigious title like that, it's always a classic. These are the fighters with the punches. It won't last long. One of them will win.”
Strip away all reference to the trinket that is rightfully Usyk's property, and Warren's quote is worthy of being reprinted on every website, every social media post and every fight poster.
“You couldn't get a better fight than this. Two Brits, the two hardest punching fighters in the heavyweight division. As we all know, when you have two good British fighters fighting with the stakes this high, it's always a classic. Hard-hitting fighters. It won't last until the end. One of them will win.”
Of course, promising a knockout is typical promoter rhetoric, but it's reasonable to believe Joshua and Dubois will deliver. They're both hard-hitting fighters, with Dubois boasting 20 knockouts from his 21 wins and Joshua ending his bouts early in 25 of his 28 wins, and both showing signs of vulnerability: Joshua has been stopped once and knocked down four times; Dubois' two losses were both stoppages and he's been knocked down six times.
Both fighters have been at boxing's lowest points, which is why Dubois vs. Joshua, with both fighters at the top of their careers, is so appealing – a fight that comes at exactly the right time and in the right place, not in a stale, sterile arena in Saudi Arabia but in front of an unfailingly rowdy, never-so-stoic, countryman crowd at Wembley.
By modern heavyweight standards, both men are still young. Dubois is 26, young by any standard. But at 34, Joshua is younger than Usyk, younger than Fury, younger than Wilder, and younger than Zhang Zhilei. Judging by his last two fights, more than seven years after his win over Wladimir Klitschko, he may just be hitting the peak of his powers. With his athleticism intact, his technique improved, his confidence restored, and the wisdom and poise gained from experience, we may not have seen the best of AJ yet.
If that is the case, and he wins at Wembley Stadium, hopefully we will have the good sense not to write off Dubois if he suffers just his third professional defeat, and if he does triumph and fully takes over from Joshua as the latest British heavyweight superstar to come out of rock bottom and fulfill his promise, hopefully we won't declare the end of AJ.
I love everything about this fight… except for one thing, so let's just ignore that one and enjoy this fight for what it is: two serious challengers trying to get the upper hand on each other.
No, Frank Warren, it doesn't get any better than this. This is where I should have ended the sales pitch.
Eric Raskin is a veteran boxing journalist with over 25 years of experience covering boxing for outlets including Boxing Scene, ESPN, Grantland, Playboy, Ringside Seat and The Ring (where he served as editor in chief for seven years). He is also the co-host of the HBO Boxing Podcast, Showtime Boxing with Raskin & Mulvaney and Ring Theory, and currently hosts the NBC Sports Weekly show. Interim Champion Boxing Podcast with Ruskin and MulvaneyHe has received three Best Writing Awards from the BWAA for his writing for The Ring, Grantland and HBO. Outside of boxing, Casino Report 2014 Money maker effectContact details: X or LinkedInor email us at RaskinBoxing@yahoo.com.
