Daniel Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) looked like gold on Saturday night, dropping Anthony Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) four times en route to knocking him out in the fifth round in front of 96,000 fans at Wembley Stadium in London, England.
Joshua down four times
Dubois put Joshua down in rounds one, three, four, and five. The knockout came in round five moments after Dubois had been staggered by a big right hand from Joshua that backed the IBF champion to the corner.
Joshua then left himself open by throwing a wild right hand that Duboiuis countered with a right of his own that put AJ down hard on the canvas. The referee then counted out the badly hurt Joshua, who couldn’t make it to his feet. The time of the stoppage was at 59 seconds of the fifth.
– In a huge mismatch, Hamzah Sheeraz (21-0, 17 KOs) destroyed EBU middleweight champion Tyler Denny (19-3-3, 1 KOs), knocking him out in the second round. The 6’3″ stork-like Sheeraz dropped Denny with a left hook to the head in round two.
Denny looked shaky when he returned to his feet, prompting the referee to waive it off. The time of the stoppage was at 2:05 of round two. In round one, Sheeraz dropped Denny with a left hook in the first 15 seconds of action.
Denny fought well in the remaining of the round, crowding Sheeraz and connecting with speedy combinations on the inside. However, things fell apart for Denny in the second round when he was clipped by a left by Sheeraz and was dropped.
Sheeraz vs. Denny didn’t belong in the co-feature spot because it was a mismatch on paper and more of a showcase fight to make Hamzah look great.
Given that it was never intended to be a good fight, it should have been buried at the bottom of the card below the Joshua Buatsi vs. Wily Hutchinson fight. Sheeraz looks like a good fighter, but he was made to look better by matching him against the weak domestic-level fighter Denny rather than a good middleweight that would expose him.
– Joshua Buatsi (19-0, 13 KOs) defeated Wily Hutchinson (18-2, 13 KOs) by an entertaining 12 round split decision to capture the WBO interim light heavyweight title. Buatsi dropped Hutchinson in rounds six and nine with body shots. In the seventh, Hutchinson was penalized for the use of his head. The scores were 113-112 for Hutchinson, 117-108 and 115-110 for Buatsi.
Hutchinson appeared on the verge of being stopped in the ninth after being dropped by a body shot from Buatsi. However, Hutchinson came back and fought well in the final three rounds, catching Buatsi repeatedly with punches that he didn’t expect.
In the 12th, Hutchinson came alive, dominating a tired and cautious Buatsi, who looked like he didn’t know how to handle the young 26-year-old Scotland native.
– IBO super featherweight champion Anthony Cacace (23-1, 8 KOs) defeated former 126-lb champion Josh Warrington (34-4-1, 8 KOs) by a wide 12-round unanimous decision in a surprisingly competitive fight. The scores were 118-110, 117-111 and 117-111.
Cacace, 35, hurt Warrington several times in the fourth round with big shots. Warrington did a good job of smothering Cacace’s power and negating his reach advantage by keeping the action on the inside through most of the fight.
In the last three rounds, Cacace did a better job of keeping the fight on the outside, but Warrington frequently closed the distance to clinch and mail. In the tenth, Cacace was cut over his left eye after a head clash with the bull-like Warrington.
In rounds one and two, Warrington was at his best, landing combinations on the inside and preventing the longer-armed Cacace from getting leverage on his punches. Unfortunately for Warrington, he couldn’t keep Cacace from getting to the outside to connect with his big shots.
Despite losing, Warrington looked good, but he didn’t have the size or the power to carry him to victory. The super featherweight Cacace was too big for him. Warrington doesn’t belong in the 130-lb division and needs to return to 126 to be at his best.
– A bloody and battered-looking Josh Kelly (16-1-1, 8 KOs) edged Ishmael Davis (13-1, 8 KOs) and dodged a bullet, winning a 12-round majority decision in this middleweight contest. The scores were 114-114, 115-113 and 115-114.
The replacement opponent, Davis, 29, started slow but came on strong in the twelfth round to nail an exhausted-looking Kelly with big shots to the head. Bleeding from a cut over his left eye and on the bridge of his nose, Kelly was forced to move and hold to survive the 12th.
The action in that round resembled Kelly’s knockout loss to David Avanesyan in 2021. He crumbled from the pressure from Avaneysan in the same way he did in the 12th against Davis tonight. However, the 30-year-old Kelly had banked enough early rounds to win a narrow decision, but it was not an impressive performance by him.
– In light welterweight action, Josh Padley (15-0, 4 KOs) pulled off a big upset, defeating lightweight Mark Chamberlain (16-1, 12 KOs) by a ten round unanimous decision. The scores were 95-93, 96-92 and 96-92.
Padley, 28, dropped Chamberlain in the eighth round with a big left hand that surprised him. In the ninth round, Chamberlain was penalized one point for shoving Padley.