‘Couldn’t have been worse’: Hearn reacts to Joshua’s performance against Dubois
Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn says Anthony Joshua has an awful outing but expects him to believe he can still win a rematch.
Following Anthony Joshua’s knockout loss to Daniel Dubois over the weekend, Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn took to the post-fight press conference to share his thoughts on what he admits was a disastrous outing for his heavyweight star and where they could go from here. Check out some of what Hearn had to say about Joshua’s loss below.
“It’s a difficult defeat, but at this point you have to try to and take any positives you can,” Hearn said. “And it’s difficult because the start was disastrous and the only positives I can take is the unbelievable heart and guts and nuts that he showed to never give up.
“And I’ve said in the changing room the amount of times I’ve heard over the years a fighter say, you know, ‘I will rather get knocked out than try and survive or lose on points, I will go out on my shield’ — he went out on his shield. Even when he didn’t have his legs he was trying to land the right hand and he was trying to find a way back in the fight. And remarkably as bad as he performed tonight, there was many mistakes that he made, he still could’ve won the fight.
“Fourth round he hurt Dubois, fifth round Dubois’ legs buckled and I think at that point ‘this is going to be one of the greatest comebacks I’ve ever seen.’ But walked onto a crushing right hand and unfortunately there was no getting up from the last one.
“We have a contracted fight with Riyadh Season that could include the Daniel Dubois rematch. I think we need time, I don’t think he could’ve boxed much worse tonight, but you have to give Dubois plenty of credit, he was brilliant tonight. He put the pressure on, we knew that he would be dangerous in the early part of the fight, and the start couldn’t have been worse, really.
“AJ will believe he can box much better and beat him but Dubois’ going to be full of confidence, and we have to look at what happens on December 21st. If Tyson Fury wins or if Tyson Fury loses — but no immediate rush. I know what AJ’s like and he would love to have another crack at [Dubois].”