Confused, knocked out and on the ground: boxing star Anthony Joshua loses control of his ego

Confused, knocked out and on the ground
Boxing star Anthony Joshua is losing control of his ego

By Martin Armbruster
September 23, 2024, 10:03 p.m

For the first time, Anthony Joshua didn’t lose early at the weekend. But the boxing superstar was counted out for the first time in his professional career in the world championship fight against Daniel Dubois. A British boxing icon suggests boxing pension to Joshua – he doesn’t want to hear about a career knockout.

Anthony Joshua briefly felt hopeful. The Brit rang his compatriot Daniel Dubois with a hard right in the fifth round on Saturday evening. 98,000 spectators at Wembley Stadium went wild – smelling a sensation. Joshua called for the attack. He had been on the boards three times before, and now AJ wanted to turn off his rival’s lights. Making a comeback, against all odds. Get up, always get up. Further and further. Rocky Balboa sends his regards. In his hunting fever, however, the former world champion forgot the boxing basics. When Joshua put his rival on the ring ropes to finish, he made a rookie mistake: he left the left flank open.

Joshua put everything he had into a right uppercut, swinging back, but dropping his left fist to protect the left side of his face. Dubois recognized the gap and hit Joshua in the jaw with a right counterattack that caused the 1.98 meter giant to collapse.

Joshua’s fourth defeat in his 32nd professional fight – it was the most devastating. Never before had the British ring darling lost after the fight against the referee’s ten-second countup. Not even Wladimir Klitschko had knocked Joshua out with his legendary right cross in 2017. Against Dubois, Joshua fell headfirst into the ring dust. A particularly difficult case. A devastating defeat.

AJ with no durability

“He had his days in the sun, like all of us. He achieved great things, won and defended great world titles, he deserved gravel,” advised British boxing legend “Prince” Naseem Hamed to his compatriot via “The Sun” to retreat. “He should step down gratefully, that’s it, that’s it. Because if he gets hit in the chin – we don’t want to talk about that right now.”

Joshua’s chin was once again the 34-year-old’s weak point in London’s football temple. In the first round, for whatever reason, he handed it to the proven puncher Dubois completely unprotected. The IBF world champion accepted the gift and telegraphed Joshua a right swing to the corner of his chin, which severed his brain-leg connection.

The striking thing: Joshua saw the “run-up” fist (unlike Dubois’ trowel in the fifth) coming. The fact that he didn’t get his head out of the line of fire in a timely manner speaks for a lack of defense, for carelessness, and a certain arrogance towards Dubois. The fact that the superstar collapsed at the first real impact and then fought for life on rubber legs for several laps is of course also a pretty clear sign: Joshua’s ability to take hits and his resistance to direct hits are too weak.

Joshua lacks the boxing class of a Klitschko

During his first professional defeat against Andy Ruiz in New York in 2019, a left hook was enough to spoil Joshua’s US debut. Since then, the Brit has felt like Wladimir Klitschko once did: trust has been shaken, conceding goals triggers panic.

While Klitschko managed the turnaround under the aegis of legendary trainer Emanuel Steward and achieved tremendous dominance with a risk-averse style, Joshua has still not found his boxing balance. The Brit lacks Klitschko’s technical class. Attempts to adopt a controlled offensive, more defensively conscious approach were unsuccessful. The focus on offensive strength, your own evil knockout spirit, is not the case either.

Joshua’s collaboration with ex-Fury coach Ben Davison was highly praised in the lead-up to the Dubois fight. The AJ camp was happy that the ex-champ was more aggressive and mentally stable. There was no sign of that against Dubois. In the ring, Joshua seemed unsettled by the pressure of his opponent, who immediately marched forward.

Dubois punishes rowdy Joshua

Instead of establishing the left jab and using his experience, Joshua let himself be carried away. After the first knockdown he seemed to be a temporary Homo Erectus. And yet the former champion could have come back. With a little running, the long leading hand hit. Joshua could have built up with his left and gradually followed up with his powerful right. Jab, jab, then one, two – but as he said, he left the basics in the locker room that evening.

Joshua wanted to prove himself and the world, to withstand Dubois’ storm, to be able to break the 26-year-old with all his might. To paraphrase psychoanalysis Godfather Siegmund Freund: Joshua’s ego, the riotous and self-destructive “id”, gained control over the boxer “ego” in the Wembley madhouse, turning the risk-conscious “superego” responsible for the instinct of self-preservation away Warning indicator tap off.

The confusion expressed itself in uncertain gestures and words: After the final bell for lap four, Joshua showed the clearly leading Dubois the way to his corner; It’s as if he had everything under control here, as if the blows didn’t bother him. During the break in the round he verbally pumped himself up with coach Davison. “He (Dubois, editor) sucks!” Joshua gasped – a little later he paid.

A lion heart is not enough

At the beginning of autumn, Joshua delivered a boxing spectacle à la Bonheur to the raging crowd in the stadium and the gasping millions watching on television, and also impressively showcased his fighting heart. But he did his own career (not to mention his health) a disservice.

The knockout at Wembley will remain in Joshua’s mind and bones for a long time – even if the veteran doesn’t want to hear about a withdrawal. Of course he will continue, Joshua said at the press conference after the fight. He risked everything and lost everything, but he is a “warrior”. Joshua followed up in a video message to his fans. “We lost out, but we have to look at all the positive things. That’s the perspective and mindset we need,” said the two-time heavyweight world champion and announced another attack on the world championship throne.

“We’ve done it once, we’ve done it twice. Doing it for the third time isn’t easy, but I believe I can do it. It’s about taking the right steps forward, working hard and reaching out improve,” Joshua said, tapping his heart: “I know I have a lot of this, I know that.” A boxer’s heart can outweigh a lot and hide many weaknesses in the ring. In the case of Anthony Joshua, even a lion heart is not enough to crown himself champion of all classes again.