Many are questioning whether Anthony Joshua is truly back to his best after beating four heavyweights in a bid to rebuild himself mentally.
Dubois: A trigger for past trauma?
Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs), a former two-time heavyweight champion, is riding a four-fight winning streak heading into his title challenge against IBF champion Daniel Dubois on Sept. 21 at Wembley Stadium in London.
It remains to be seen whether Joshua can face a young apex predator like Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs) without having a mental breakdown and suffering flashbacks to the traumatic events he experienced in his two losses to Oleksandr Usyk.
Those memories may be stirred up when Dubois begins landing hard punches on Joshua that night in front of a record-breaking crowd of more than 100,000 fans at Wembley Stadium.
Opponents of canned tomatoes raise doubts
“I don't subscribe to the idea that Anthony Joshua has fully rehabilitated, because at the end of the day he has fought fighters who couldn't fight back,” Simon Jordan told talkSPORT Boxing, saying the reason Anthony Joshua has yet to prove he has recovered from his two losses to Oleksandr Usyk is because of the four below-par opponents he has faced since then.
It would be ridiculous to say that Joshua was completely rehabilitated after defeating this quartet of tomato cans.
– Francis Ngannou
– Otto Wallin
– Robert Helenius
– Jermaine Franklin
For Joshua to fully return to the form he was in when his promoter pulled him out of the showroom in 2013, he needs to beat some of these big names:
Oleksandr Usyk: The King
Tyson Fury
Agito Kabayel
Jared Anderson
Daniel Dubois
Martin Bakole
“Jermaine Franklin put in a bit of effort but in the end Helenius got knocked out without even touching gloves, Wallin was nowhere near him and Ngannou did what he had to do against Tyson Fury,” Simon said.
Half of these fights should never have happened: Robert Helenius was recently knocked out, Ngannou lost his last fight, Wallin looks dire and Franklin just lost to Dillian Whyte.
“If it's Daniel, [Dubois] I exploded at him, I said the other day, and the fake drug salesman [Eddie Hearn?] He didn't like it. [Joshua] Developing PTSD [Post-traumatic stress disorder aka Battle Fatigue] “Because he's going back to where Anthony Joshua doesn't want to be so far into the front line,” Simon said.
The trenches: Joshua's test of perseverance
If Dubois drags Joshua into the fight, there is a good chance he will collapse mentally and physically and be defeated, which could be a very bad outcome for Joshua as he comes into the fight against Fury coming off a loss.
“There's a good chance Daniel Dubois will take him down and if he does it will be an interesting fight because he has the power,” Simon said. “We wrote about this young man three or four years ago saying: 'Forget Joshua and Tyson Fury, this Daniel 'Dynamite' Dubois is the guy to watch.'
Joshua is too old and too physically drained to get involved in a fight with Dubois. Joshua would be fine in a short fight where he could get a knockout, but he'd be in trouble if he had to take a hard hit for longer than six rounds.
“Then a challenger came along and I predicted he'd beat Jarrell Miller. Yes,” Simon said when asked if he viewed Dubois as a top-tier heavyweight. “I don't know if he'll win the fight, but he has a good chance of winning.”
