Daniel Dubois knocks out Anthony Joshua in stunning Wembley upset

DANIEL DUBOIS STUNNED Wembley Stadium and the boxing world with a fifth-round knockout of Anthony Joshua to defend his IBF heavyweight world title.

In an all-English dust-up, Dubois dropped Joshua hard in the first round which left ‘AJ’ reeling for most of the rest of the contest.

‘Dynamite’ scored a further knockdown in the third, overwhelming the jelly-legged Joshua who never truly recovered from the blow he took in the first.

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With the writing on the wall, Joshua appeared to at least partly regain his senses in the fifth and Wembley exploded as he rocked Dubois with a thunderous right hand.

Smelling blood, Joshua closed in on what would have been a remarkable turnaround, cornering Dubois and riding one right hand to deliver another of his own. But as the two-time former champion wound up his killer blow, Dubois beat him to the punch.

A nuclear straight right hand to the chin flattened Joshua, almost knocking him out cold. The contest was waved off with Joshua almost head-over-heels as he attempted in vain to return to his feet.

The majority of the record-breaking 96,000 supporters at Wembley were left stunned, albeit pockets of Dubois fans were jubilant.

Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, said afterwards that he expects Joshua (now 28-4, 25KOs) to exercise his rematch clause, with the fighter himself crediting his conqueror and indicating he intends to fight on.

Dubois (now 22-2, 21KOs) will either honour that rematch should it come to fruition or cast his eye towards the winner of Oleksandr Usyk’s rematch with Tyson Fury.