The story of the tape
Ahead of tonight's main event, let's take a look at how well Dubois and Joshua perform. The challenger has an inch advantage in height and four inches in reach, and the difference in experience between the two fighters also seems to work in Joshua's favor. This will be Joshua's 13th world title fight and only Dubois' second.
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Hello and welcome to Wembley Stadium for tonight’s all-British heavyweight title fight between Daniel Dubois and Anthony Joshua. A post-war-record crowd of about 96,000 is expected for this highly anticipated scrap for the IBF’s version of the heavyweight championship which until recently was owned by Oleksandr Usyk, who unified the long-fractured title in boxing’s prestige division by defeating Tyson Fury in May. Owing to the sport’s broken mandatory challenger system, the title was vacated by Usyk and essentially emailed to Dubois, who will defend it tonight against Joshua, who’s already lost to Usyk twice.
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If you’re confused you’re not alone. But all alphabet soup shenanigans aside, we’ve got a heck of a scrap in the offing and lots to look forward to.
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Joshua, who came in at 252.5lbs at Friday’s weigh-in at Trafalgar Square and is back in a title fight for the first time since his second loss to Usyk back in August 2022, called himself a “gladiator” preparing to enter battle.
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“If I can ask you one favor, go home tonight and make a prayer for me, for success tomorrow, that I will become three-time heavyweight champion of the world,” Joshua told the crowd. “I look at myself as a gladiator, and I’m about to step into an arena tomorrow to perform for the people who love to see blood, guts and glory.”
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Dubois, who came in at a career-high 248.6lbs, was equally confident despite the occupying the underdog role.
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“It’s time to get into the ring and fight,” he said. “Let’s go. I’ve been working hard. A lot of work and training has gone into this and I’m ready to go. A win, by any means necessary.”
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The final undercard bout is in the books after Hamzah Sheeraz’s two-round destruction of Tyler Denny for the European middleweight championship in a bad mismatch. Next up: Dubois v Joshua.
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Shiraz (right) stops Tyler Dennehy in the second round at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night.”,”caption”:”Hamza Shiraz (right) stops Tyler Dennehy in the second round at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night.”,”credit”:”Photo by Andrew Coudridge/Action Images/Reuters”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1726948124000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”15.48 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1726949183000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”16.06 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1726948948000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”16.02 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”16.02″,”title”:”Preface”,”Contributor”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Saturday, September 21, 2024 at 16:44 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published Saturday, September 21, 2024 at 15:40 EDT”}],”filterKeyEvents”:false,”id”:”key-events-carousel-mobile”,”absoluteServerTimes”:false}”>
Main Events
Liam Gallagher will close his set with 'Cigarettes & Alcohol', with The Fighters set to perform next. Say what you like about the Saudi Arabian injection of money into boxing, but no one can argue with the production values.
The story of the tape
Ahead of tonight's main event, let's take a look at how well Dubois and Joshua perform. The challenger has an inch advantage in height and four inches in reach, and the difference in experience between the two fighters also seems to work in Joshua's favor. This will be Joshua's 13th world title fight and only Dubois' second.
Liam Gallagher's pre-match performance is taking place on the stage in the centre of the pitch. He opened for Rock N' Roll Star before going on to Supersonic – maybe he's doing a bit of advance recon here for the Oasis show in 10 months' time?
The stars will be in the action in tonight's big game. Meanwhile, Liam Gallagher I just came out of the tunnel Off to Wembley for the pre-match performance.
Donald McRae took part in Friday's weigh-in in Trafalgar Square.Dubois and Joshua faced off one last time.
“I'm ready to fight,” Anthony Joshua said earlier this month before taking on Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night. Sitting across from Joshua at a table in the television studio, Dubois recreated the drama that often accompanies pre-fight shows, looked calmly at his more famous opponent and said, “Let's go.”
Promoter Frank Warren, sitting next to Dubois, smiled and added a small caveat to ease the sudden tension: “But let's wait until the 21st.” Dubois ignored Warren this time and continued: “If he wants to swing, let's do it now.”
“Shut up,” Joshua yelled. “Calm down.” Dubois seemed relaxed enough, but he wasn't going to turn down the provocative invitation. “If you want to go now,” he said, looking at Joshua, “let's go.”
Joshua, who has regularly been criticized for being too scrupulous, almost corporate, in public, responded to the remark with unusual vigor and foul language: “I'm gonna shove this damn chair in your face,” he warned Dubois. “Don't you dare disrespect me.”
“You can't intimidate me,” Dubois responded. “Who do you think you are?”
preamble
Hello and welcome to Wembley Stadium for tonight's British heavyweight title fight between Daniel Dubois and Anthony Joshua. A post-fight record crowd of around 96,000 is expected for this high-profile bout for the IBF heavyweight championship. The title was recently held by Oleksandr Usyk, who defeated Tyson Fury in May to unify the long-divided titles in boxing's most prestigious division. With boxing's mandatory challenger system not working, the title was vacated by Usyk, effectively notifying Dubois by email. Dubois will defend his title tonight against Joshua, who has already lost twice to Usyk.
You're not alone in this confusion, but alphabet soup shenanigans aside, there are some awesome battles ahead and a lot to look forward to.
Joshua, who weighed in at 252.5 pounds at Friday's weigh-in at Trafalgar Square and is back in title contention for the first time since his second loss to Usyk in August 2022, described himself as a “gladiator” ready to take on the fight.
“If I could ask one thing of you, it would be to go home tonight and pray for success tomorrow so that I can become a three-time heavyweight champion of the world,” Joshua told the crowd. “I consider myself a gladiator and tomorrow I will step into the arena and put on a performance for people who love to see blood, guts and glory.”
Dubois came in at a career-high 248.6 pounds and was equally confident despite being the underdog.
“It's time to step into the ring and fight,” he said. “Let's go. I've been training hard. I've put in a lot of effort and training for this fight, so I'm ready and I'm going to win by any means necessary.”
The final undercard bout concluded with Hamza Sheeraz defeating Tyler Dennehy in two rounds to win the European middleweight championship, and the next bout is Dubois vs Joshua.
Brian will be here soon. For now, Donald McRae predicts tonight's main event.
