Anthony Joshua will be hoping for a very different result if he rematches Daniel Dubois.
The former heavyweight champion walked to the ring at Wembley Stadium in September looking for a victory that would have made him a three-time titlist, but things didn’t transpire that way.
Even before the end of the first round, ‘AJ’ had been sent to the canvas by a huge looping overhand right from ‘DDD’. He never fully recovered from that shot and was put down several more times on his way to a fifth round stoppage loss.
It was a decisive end to what had been a good run of victories for Joshua, who stopped Francis Ngannou, Otto Wallin and Robert Helenius in his previous three fights.
One man who Joshua beat in the amateur ranks during the London 2012 Olympics, is Zhilei Zhang, who has always wanted a second shot at the Brit.
Speaking to Seconds Out, ‘Big Bang’ believes a rematch with Dubois would be a bad move for Joshua.
“I can’t really say I’m disappointed because as a boxing fan myself I look at it from a fan’s perspective. Joshua has been on top of the pyramid for years and when you’re on top of the food chain that definitely changes your mentality a bit.
This defeat, I don’t know where it puts him mentally, but I think the rematch will be a worse-case scenario for Joshua.”
He then claimed he might never get his shot at AJ now.
“I don’t think he is ever going to fight me in the near future after this loss. We’ll see what happens but I strongly recommend he doesn’t take this rematch.
I have been saying for years I want to test his chin, but Dubois did the job for me, but after seeing the result I don’t want to test it any more. He’s going to do everything he can to avoid me now.”
