Terence Crawford was among the many boxing luminaries who had been ringside Saturday night time watching Daniel Dubois destroy Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium in London in entrance of a document crowd of 96,000.
Dubois knocked down Joshua 4 instances to attain a fifth-round knockout win and defended his IBF heavyweight title for the primary time.
Dubois dropped Joshua in Rounds 1, 3, 4 and 5, and even survived a short scare courtesy of a desperation onslaught from Joshua moments earlier than he linked together with his highlight-reel KO.
“No, by no means [was it a shock],” Crawford advised the media whereas leaving the world. “The higher man was going to win, and Dubois was the higher man. He capitalized on Joshua’s faults and gained the combat. … It was an important combat. I feel Joshua obtained overconfident [right before the fight ended]. He damage him with a shot and went for the kill, however he forgot about his protection and forgot the basics.
“Dubois got here to combat, and you’ll see it in his eyes. He wasn’t going to go away the ring with out that victory.”
Joshua, who will flip 35 years outdated subsequent month, is now 6-4 in his 10 fights over the previous 5 years, having misplaced to Oleksandr Usyk (twice), Andy Ruiz Jr. and, now, Dubois. However Joshua shut down any potential retirement talks instantly after the combat.
Crawford has his issues, nevertheless, about whether or not the two-time heavyweight champion can revive his profession as soon as extra.
“Uh, I do not know [if Joshua can come back from this],” mentioned Crawford. “Joshua has been in lots of wars. He fought lots of nice fighters. I feel he can, however it’ll be powerful as a result of he has lots of put on and tear on his physique.”
The four-division champion Crawford is coming off a unanimous determination win in opposition to Israil Madrimov final month to seize the WBA junior middleweight title.
Crawford doesn’t have his subsequent combat date lined up but, however he has been adamant about shifting as much as 168 kilos for a conflict in opposition to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
“Hopefully, we are able to get that combat,” mentioned Crawford. “If not, we transfer on to the following.”
Manouk Akopyan is a sports activities journalist, author and broadcast reporter whose work has appeared on ESPN, Fox Sports activities, USA At present, The Guardian, Newsweek, Males’s Well being, NFL.com, Los Angeles Occasions, Philadelphia Inquirer, Ring Journal and extra. He has been writing for BoxingScene since 2018. Manouk is a member of the Boxing Writers Affiliation of America and the MMA Journalists Affiliation. He could be reached on X (previously Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube, by way of electronic mail at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or by way of www.ManoukAkopyan.com.
