Anthony Joshua is looking to become a three-time heavyweight world champion when he faces IBF titleholder Daniel Dubois on Saturday at London’s Wembley Stadium (DAZN PPV, 11 a.m. ET).
Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) has revived his career after back-to-back decision losses to Oleksandr Usyk in 2021 and 2022. Since then, he’s 4-0 with three KOs, including a devastating second-round stoppage win over former UFC champion Francis Ngannou last March. In the 5:38 the fight lasted, Joshua was very effective, throwing just nine power punches, landing five and sending Ngannou to the canvas three times.
“On the route to the championship, you should always stay focused,” said Joshua after the fight.
Now, he has an opportunity to regain a heavyweight title for the first time in more than three years against a younger version of himself in Dubois, who has also revived his career after a ninth-round TKO loss to Usyk in August 2023.
Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs) stopped Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller in 10 rounds back in December, then demolished perennial contender Filip Hrgovic in an eighth-round TKO win in June. Dubois started slowly in that fight but landed more than 42% of his power punches.
“I was rock bottom last year, but now I’m on top,” Dubois said after the fight. “I’ve heard Anthony Joshua is next.”
Now that Joshua-Dubois is here, let’s look at the title fight by the numbers, with data from ESPN Stats & Information and CompuBox.
-425: Odds for Joshua to win the fight, per ESPN BET.
12: Joshua’s number of title fights.
14: Combined number of rounds fought by Joshua in his last three fights since going 24 rounds against Oleksandr Usyk (two defeats).
4: English fighters to hold the IBF heavyweight world title (Dubois, Joshua, Lennox Lewis, Tyson Fury).
0: Previous times Joshua has faced a fellow English fighter in a world title bout.
5: Heavyweights that have enjoyed three reigns as champion (Muhammad Ali, Evander Holyfield, Michael Moorer, Lennox Lewis, Vitali Klitschko). Joshua would join the list with a win over Dubois.
5: English fighters that have won at least 10 world title fights (Chris Eubank, Naseem Hamed, Lennox Lewis, Johnny Nelson, Nigel Benn). Joshua has nine wins in his 12 world title fights.
58%: Percentage of power punches landed by Dubois in the 10th and final round to KO Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller. Dubois landed 48% of his power punches overall.
11.7: Punches landed by Joshua per round out of 37.7 thrown in his last 17 fights, below the division’s average of 14.3.
25.2%: Percentage of body punches landed by Joshua in his last 17 fights. Dubois lands 22.5%. Both land at a rate lower than the heavyweight average of 29.5%.
22.4%: Percentage of punches landed on Joshua by his last 17 opponents.
7.5: Punches landed on Joshua per round by his past 17 opponents. They connected with only 4.6 power shots, fourth lowest among champions and title contenders.
15: Consecutive victories by Dubois to start his professional career before losing to Joe Joyce in November 2020.
3: Previous Joshua fights inside Wembley Stadium (3-0, 3 KO).
1,000: Lowest attendance for a heavyweight world title fight (Joshua vs. Kubrat Pulev at London’s Wembley Arena on Dec. 12, 2020) — a Guinness world record — due to COVID-19 restrictions.
90,000: Attendance at Wembley Stadium for Joshua’s 11th-round TKO victory over Wladimir Klitschko on April 29, 2017. A crowd of 96,000 is expected for Saturday’s fight between Joshua and Dubois, which would set a new post-war record for a crowd at a boxing event in the United Kingdom.
30.2%: Percentage of power punches landed on Dubois by his last five opponents. Usyk landed only 23.5% of his power shots in his fight with Dubois. In comparison, Usyk landed 43% of his power punches in two fights against Joshua.
6: Previous times two English boxers have competed against one another for a heavyweight title.
89%: Joshua’s KO rate (25 knockouts in 28 wins).
95%: Dubois’ KO rate (20 knockouts in 21 wins).
763: Number of days between title fights for Joshua. His last title fight was on Aug. 20, 2022, against Oleksandr Usyk.
3,087: Days since Joshua won his first heavyweight world title, in a second-round KO of Charles Martin on April 9, 2016.
In their own words — from Thursday’s news conference in London
Joshua on facing Dubois: “We’ll find out [what Dubois has to offer]. …I can’t say. I’m not Daniel. All I can do is focus on myself.
“I’m tough and so is he.”
Joshua on how he can win the fight: “I could win in a variety of ways. I’m not depending on punch power. It takes a lot more than that to be a great fighter. I’ve got the fighting spirit and that’s how I’ll break him down, with my spirit.”
Dubois on why he wanted to face Joshua: “It’s a resurrection story of my career. I want the big challenges, to make a name for myself and to make history.
“I need to retain this world title. It’s a great thing to have but I need to legitimize myself by winning this fight.”
Dubois on sparring with Joshua in the past: “It was sparring. Now we’re fighting, this is different. …Move on.
“I’m ready to go and ready to fight. …I’m not predicting anything.”
Source: www.espn.com