LONDON: Billed as Anthony Joshua’s next stop on a comeback tour, a record Wembley crowd of 98,128 were left stunned as Daniel Dubois confirmed his credentials on the world heavyweight stage by dismantling the former two-time world champion.
Looming over the Wembley Edition of this Riyadh Season was the specter of Tyson Fury, who took a seat for the first of the undercards, the camera repeatedly cutting to him amid great applause from the gathering crowd.
Fury’s presence added only further fuel to the fiery demand for a long sought-after Joshua-Fury bout, which would bring the two biggest names in British boxing of the past decade together, but Joshua first had to get past IBF Heavyweight Champion Dubois.
It may have been Dubois’ belt at the start of the night, but Joshua entered to a medley beginning with “The Godfather” theme, before Jay Z’s “Public Service Announcement.”With the song’s line “allow me to reintroduce myself,” here was the main man.
Certainly, the crowd — pumped by a three-song Oasis set from the frontman of the newly reformed band, Liam Gallagher — and the experts concurred with that assessment.
Dubois’ opening volley, however, suggested that he was unphased by his underdog status.
And it was not long before he connected with a thunderous, and likely decisive, overhand right, putting Joshua to the floor for the first of what would be four times over the course of the bout, leaving the bumper crowd in shock.
Dubois carried the momentum into the second, and that overhand right seemed to hang over Joshua, whose legs trembled throughout as multiple shots from the champion hit hard and true.
Another hard left from Dubois unnerved Joshua as he stumbled in the final 10 before going down as the bell tolled. Nearby spectators were shocked, with one saying: “I can’t believe what I’m seeing here.”
Two more knock-downs followed in the third, although the second rather unconvincingly was ruled a slip as unified champion Oleksandr Usyk watched on, likely growing more and more convinced that Dubois would be among his pending fights.
Dubois was unrelenting, but in the fourth, Joshua showed signs of the determination that had seen him previously rebuild from career setbacks; after goading and mocking the titleholder, Joshua finally landed a convincing shot before the bell went.
That new momentum carried into the fifth and it seemed that a miraculous comeback could be on the cards as again Joshua connected with Dubois. Sensing an opening, he went for the double, in a move that his manager Eddie Hearn would later call greedy.
In that moment, Dubois spotted a chance, landing a counter-right that put the challenger down for the fourth and final time, his team in the corner moving to save him from himself as he scrambled to beat the count. It was to be Joshua’s fourth loss in 32 bouts.
After the winner had been declared he took to the mic, though, to suggest that he was not done yet, despite many already suggesting this had been something of a last chance saloon for the fighter.Seemingly, the commentariat’s short memories drove that narrative; had Joshua won, he would have emulated the likes of Muhammad Ali, Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis as a three-time world champion.
Confident that he was not yet set for retirement, Joshua recognized his own failings over the course of the five rounds, admitting that he had come up against a “fast and sharp opponent … a lot of mistakes from my end.”
Dubois, though, delivered not only the best shots of the night, but also the best line, yelling to the crowd “Are you not entertained?” He was quoting the Russell Crowe movie “Gladiator,” in reference to Joshua having described himself as just that.
“I’ve been on a rollercoaster run; this is my time, my redemption story,” Dubois added, after it appeared that he may have silenced those critics who had doubted his true potential in the buildup.
“I want to get to the top of this sport and reach my full potential,” he said.
A Joshua win would almost certainly have ramped up expectations that, finally, now would be the time the much-hyped, long sought-after dust-up with Fury happened — a fight the Saudi sport authority would have been only too keen to host.
But as Joshua dusted off his wounds, it appeared that Fury had already left the stage, leaving hopes of that prospective bout in tatters, as one spectator walked past asking: “What have we just witnessed here?”
AS IT HAPPENED (All times BST):
22:30 - Game over
Daniel Dubois, IBF heavyweight champion, walked into the ring as the underdog against Anthony Joshua on Saturday night in front of a sold-out Wembley crowd, but showed the world why he needs to be taken more seriously with a statement-setting knock-out of the favorite in the 5th round. Dubois had Joshua reeling from a damaging blow in round one, which the two-time former unified world champion never recovered from. Dubois gains more admirers and retains his belt, Joshua now ponders where he goes from here.
A spectacular Riyadh Season show in London comes to an end with a number of impressive fights and a dramatic main card that has the boxing world in shock.
That’s all from us tonight. Check out more on Arab News Sport.
22:30 - Main event
Hanging over this fight was the spectre of Tyson Fury. A match between Joshua and Fury has long been touted, and it didn’t take long for Fury to appear. Throughout the undercard fights cameras would pan to him, eliciting roars of delight from the ever increasing crowd.
If Fury is the superstar on Joshua’s mind, Usyk was also not to be forgotten, the pair sat front row.
It may have been Dubois’ belt at the start of the night but AJ, as he’s colloquially known entered the ring with a clear message: here was the boss, as the theme from mafia movie The Godfather blared out, followed precipitously by Jay Z’s HoVA, beckoning the crowd to let him reintroduce himself.
All the experts we spoke too, were unified in their belief that the challenger was the favourite. Dubois seemingly welcomed the underdog status unbecoming his title.
He started well, setting out his stall with a volley of shots that immediately appeared to ask questions of Joshua, an overhand right landing heavily. It was just before the end of the first round that the crowd erupted as the challenger went down. Dubois had dropped Joshua.
He opened the second round with that same level of ferocity. Joshua appeared stunned, his legs seemingly having given up, and then a left hook making contact with his face further unnerved him.
Nearby spectators were shocked, one noting “I can’t believe what I’m seeing here”.
By the end of the third, Joshua’s legs were clearly failing him, and in the final 10 of he stumbled, before going down again as the bell tolled.
More followed, within 15 seconds of the fourth he was again down before jumping up only to be put down again. Joshua may have looked lost but there remained a determination as he sought to fight on, but Dubois was unrelenting.
Finally, after goading Dubois, Joshua made contact and then the bell went.
That seemed to spark the fight into Joshua, who began the fifth strongly. The crowd clearly in his corner as they cheered him on.
Now it was his turn to send a message. Dubois was as in pain but not for long. It was all too little too late from Joshua.
Dubois had him down again. That was it. Game over.
Fury didn’t appear to stick around, turning his back on the ring and walking off.
"What have we just seen?" one spectator asked.
20:44 - With the main event looming, the penultimate fight of the night featured Tyler Deeny and Hamzah Sheeraz battling it out for the European Middleweight Title.
The hype was certainly flowing in Sheeraz’s favour and, with what was the first shot of the night he had Deeny on the mat.
After eight seconds he was up but it was an auspicious start, which Sheeraz followed up by backing him into the rope and unleashing blow after blow.
His height advantage showed. And in the second he had it, knocking Deeny down and rewarding Frank Warren’s faith in him.
There was more excitement emanating outside the ring as frontman of the newly reformed Oasis, Liam Gallagher, was spotted for the first time tonight.
Gallagher’s performance immediately before the main event tonight had been known for some time. But earlier this month, he and his brother Noel announced the first Oasis shows for 15 years.
Now the hype was mounting that maybe tonight there would be a preview of what those who landed tickets to next year’s shows could expect.
20:20 - This was a fight that really opened up in the sixth, with Britain’s Joshua Buatsi - entering the match up with 18 win, 13 by knock out - putting Scotland’s Willy Hutchinson - with 18 wins, 13 by KO and one loss - down.
The Scot was back up on the eight count but Buatsi went straight back in. If the preceding rounds had been tight, this was definitely the Brit’s.
And he opened the seventh in similar fashion, clearly hoping to capitalise on his success in the closing stages of the preceding round.
Hutchinson though wasn’t prepared to surrender, stirring the crowd with his own volley of attacks.
At the end of the seventh, the first images of Dubois flashed across the screens, garnering whoops for a now nearly full Wembley audience. It bears repeating that tonight, will see a record 96,000 at the home of English football.
Two minutes into the eighth and it seemed Hutchinson may again taste the mat, but he managed to keep to his feet and see the round out, before opening the ninth with a series of attacks that could have flipped things on their head before Buatsi again had Hutchinson down for another eight count, having pinned him into a corner with an uppercut before unleashing a left that sent him to the ground.In the tenth, Buatsi was wrong-footed, tripping onto the rope, but it remained very much his to lose.
Having gotten Hutchinson to the mat twice, Buatsi was not going to be rushed in the final round, instead willing to absorb the Scot’s final few attacks.
And then the bell went. We were again back to the judges.
As it did, the Scot was at a self-inflicted disadvantage, having been docked points for use of the head following repeated warnings in the earlier half of the bout.
Catching everyone in attendance off guard, the judges came to a split decision, but this was Buatsi’s night as he was crowned WBO Interim Light Heavyweight Title.
19:15 - Tonight’s first title fight as Ireland’s Anthony Cacace put the IBO Super Featherweight Championship he won in May on the line against Britain’s Josh Warrington.
Again, with the fight having gone the distance, it was fair to say a theme was emerging in the early stages of this Riyadh Season event, with the judges deciding the outcome.
Watching on in the role of commentator, former WBC Cruiserweight Champion Tony Bellew consistently rated Cacace as the better.
The positivity surrounding Cacace did not match his experience, the Irishman the less seasoned of the two, having won 22 of his 23 compared to his competitor’s 31 wins and 3 losses.
Bellew, providing his own scores throughout, considered it tight between the pair.
For the judges though, the situation was more clear cut, scoring it 118-110, 117-111, and 117-111, all in Cacace’s favour, as he retained the belt he’d won just four months earlier.
It seems that this may have also been the last of Warrington’s fights in what has been a glittering career for the proud Leeds man.
Those 31 wins of his twice brought him the IBF title he was vying for, with victories against the likes of Carl Frampton, Kiko Martinez, and Lee Selby.
18:15 - If the opening fight of this Riyadh season was a trial in patience, the second bout was its opposite.
A middleweight division fight, it featured Team GB representative at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Josh Kelly - who started today having fought 15 times, with 13 wins, 8 of which were by knock out - against the undefeated Ishmael Davis who’d stopped four of his last five fights.
Kelly was the clear favourite as far as the audience were concerned, having the back of 69 percent of those who voted.
And in the early rounds he certainly evidenced that faith.
Davis, however, seemed happy to absorb Kelly’s efforts in the early rounds.
The closing seconds of the fourth round whipped the audience up as both fighters traded blows.
But it would be in the final round that things heated up.
Barely a minute in, Davis elicited audible gasps from the watching crowd as shot after shot rained down on Kelly, opening up his face.
Davis could, metaphorically and literally, smell blood now.
And Kelly appeared shaken. But the bell went before a knock out.
Off the back of those three minutes, Kelly appeared the less assured of the two, seeming to motion to his team that he’d messed it up.
Again, we went to the judges.
The first scored it a draw at 114-114 each. The other two, though, determined a clear winner, scoring it 115-114 and 115-113 in Kelly’s favour.
17:00 - Opening the Riyadh Season, super lightweight fighters Mark Chamberlain and Josh Padley squared off at a rapidly filling Wembley Stadium.
With 96,000 due for the main event, those who were gathered for this first bout certainly made their voices heard.
Neither Chamberlain nor Padley had lost in their preceding respective 16 and 14 fights.
For Chamberlain, 12 of those victories had come by knock out, while Padley had landed knock outs in all of his.
This fight wasn’t to go that way, as chants of “Blue Army” - in reference to Chamberlain’s home city of Portsmouth - and “Padley” rang out.Indeed both pugilists seemed to recognise the quality of their opponent with the opening rounds proving tentative.
Of the two, Padley was the more aggressive, hurling a volley of shots.
Later, the stats would show Chamberlain had landed an ever so slightly higher percentage of his shots.
Eventually Padley’s determination would pay off, a left hook knocking chamberlain down halfway through the 8th round.
He was not down for long though.
And it seemed to spark some urgency in the Pompey lad.
But as the bell rang out to end the 10th round, Padley seemed far more assured he’d done enough to gain the judges favour.
And the audience agreed, with just 37 percent giving the win to Chamberlain. When the results were announced Padley had won unanimously, with the judges scoring it 95-93, 96-92, and 96-92 in his favour.
