Anthony Joshua will live to fight another day.
Returning to the ring at Wembley Stadium in London on Saturday night, ‘AJ’ was the heavy favorite to come out on top take snatch away the IBF heavyweight championship from Daniel Dubois. Instead, ‘Dynamite’ shocked everyone when he dominated Joshua through four rounds and ultimately put away the two-time heavyweight titleholder with a fight-ending shot in the fifth.
Though it was only his fourth career loss, rumors immediately began to swirl that Joshua would lay down his gloves and walk away from the sport. However, that is not the case. Following the stunning defeat, ‘AJ’ made it clear that he’s not going anywhere.
Anthony Joshua isn’t going anywhere
A true warrior who left everything on the line last night
#JoshuaDubois | #RiyadhSeasonCard: Wembley Edition pic.twitter.com/g22ZiknsXd
— Queensberry Promotions (@Queensberry) September 22, 2024
“Probably you’re asking do I still want to continue fighting? Of course, I want to continue fighting,” Joshua said during a post-fight interview. “That’s what I said is we took a shot at success and we came up short, and what does that mean now? We’re gonna run away? We’re gonna live to fight another day” (h/t BJPenn.com).
Unfortunately, it no longer looks like a long-awaited clash with Tyson Fury is in the cards after ‘The Gypsy King’ declared that Joshua’s loss cost him a whopping £150 million.
Still, Joshua will have plenty of options available when he’s ready to dust himself off and climb back into the ring.
Overall, ‘AJ’ is 28-4 with 25 of his victories coming by way of knockout. Since 2021, the 34-year-old has gone 4-3 including back-to-back losses against boxing’s first unified heavyweight world champion in more than 20 years, Oleksandr Usyk.
