Watch: Deontay Wilder’s Trainer Explains Two Glaring Mistakes That Cost Anthony Joshua His Dream Against Daniel Dubois

Daniel Dubois’ upset victory over Anthony Joshua at the Wembley Stadium has been the talk of the town for the last few days. Dubois, in his first IBF heavyweight title defense, knocked out AJ in the fifth round to create history in front of 96,000 fans. It was a one-sided affair that has even put Joshua’s future, let alone his title aspirations, in question.

Since the fight, many fans and experts have laid down various reasons regarding AJ’s loss. Deontay Wilder‘s trainer Malik Scott dived deep into the fight and pointed out two glaring errors in AJ’s style that cost him the match, and which will haunt him for a long time.

Anthony Joshua’s over-commitment with the right-hand

The first mistake that Scott noticed was Joshua’s habit of over-committing with the right hand and not bringing it back to guard. The Bronze Bomber’s head coach showed a clip from the fight where AJ is completely unstable after throwing a heavy right hand and leaving himself completely open for an immediate left hook by Dubois. Scott explained, “We see AJ over-commits with the right hand, a brilliant defensive move by Daniel, and this is where AJ goes wrong. Look where his right hand is at. It’s not on the phone (on the chin) and he is susceptible to the left hook anytime and that is where the tragedy starts.” This failure cost to get hit with a powerful left that left AJ on wobbly legs. But that wasn’t all.

Scott also stated that this is not a current problem and AJ’s way of throwing his right hand has always involved over-commitment. Joshua’s first career loss against Andy Ruiz Jr. in 2019 followed a similar route where after an over-commitment with a powerful right, he left his chin open leaving him “susceptible to a left hook” soon after from Andy Ruiz Jr. This left hook also left Anthony Joshua on wobbly legs.

The inability to bring back his guard has left him vulnerable time and time again, where even a light punch can knock him down or out. This glaring error was the first of two mistakes that AJ made. What was the second one?

The Three-try-error package

During the fifth round, everyone saw a glimpse of a comeback from Anthony Joshua, where he connected with two heavy punches. But Dubois countered with his own punch, which left Joshua on the ground, unable to get up. Scott, breaking down the final 30-seconds of the fight, highlighted the blunder made by the 34-year-old that led to the fight’s climactic finish.

“During his attempt to finish Daniel, AJ chose to go with the three-try-error package. One attempt with the right hand. second attempt with the same exact punch. And he threw a third punch right here. It was a different punch. It was an uppercut, but it came from the right side,” explained Malik Scott.

Scott admired Dubois’ ability to think during those times as it allowed Dynamite to throw one last punch to end the match. “Daniel was collecting data at this time, and he was ready for the third shot to come from that angle.” Scott then further showed the same move failure in a different fight.

Leo Santa Cruz tried a similar “three-try-error package” to finish his fight against Gervonta Davis in 2020. However, just like Dubois, a fighter like Gervonta Davis was expecting a third shot from the same angle. He therefore countered the punch knocking Cruz out cold just like Daniel Dubois did with AJ. As Scott explained, it is always dangerous to throw similar punches at a fighter who is calm, collected, and reading all of your signals.

Malik Scott would have liked to see AJ use a left-handed to jab up Daniel Dubois to the ropes before landing his shots with his right. He explained how a boxing great does this. In his 1997 fight with Andrew Golota, Lennox Lewis, after hurting him with a powerful right, kept jabbing him up to the ropes with his left. Lewis never let Golota ease up. This helped Lewis set up the powerful right that eventually knocked Golota down. And if AJ had used the same jab to probe Daniel in the last 30 seconds, it would have given him a good angle to buffer and hit him with his infamous right. But he failed to do that according to Scott which cost him the match.

As the saying goes, you live to fight another day. Anthony Joshua can now take these lessons from his Dubois fight when he enters the ring next time.

What do you think about Malik Scott’s analysis of the fight? Did Anthony Joshua’s habit of over-committing with his right cost him the fight? Or was it throwing three punches from the same angle? Let us know your thoughts down below.