Good evening and welcome to our live coverage of Anthony Joshua’s IBF heavyweight world title challenge against holder Daniel Dubois, with a packed undercard preceding the main event at Wembley.
This is Joshua’s 13th world title fight, and he is the man with greater experience of big dates in outdoor arenas. Dubois has never fought at Wembley, while Joshua is returning to the stadium for the first time since 2018 when he bettered Alexander Povetkin.
Dubois’ interim IBF title was upgraded to world championship status when Oleksandr Usyk agreed to his rematch with Tyson Fury, thus ruling him out of facing the mandatory challenger.
Both Joshua and Dubois have been beaten by Usyk, the world’s best heavyweight, but have recovered. Dubois got the better of Jarrell Miller, thought by some to be the best piece of form going into tonight’s fight, and he also stopped Filip Hrgovic.
Joshua has strung together a four-fight winning run against Jermaine Franklin, Robert Helenius, Otto Wallin and former UFC champion Francis Ngannou, but the calibre of those opponents has been questioned.
There is an expectation that Joshua vs Dubois could turn into a firefight, with Dubois talking up his chances of an early knockout and both fighters being extremely heavy punchers.
Dubois told Sky Sports: “I aim to knock him out. That’s the programme. That’s the mindset, that’s the intention coming into this fight. I’m going to focus my whole life into destroying it and just being a good destroyer, a good conqueror.
“Don’t wait. Go out there. Smash him.”
The undercard is already under way, with Anthony Cacace vs Josh Warrington at super-featherweight, Joshua Buatsi vs Willie Hutchinson for the vacant WBO Interim light-heavyweight title and Tyler Denny vs Hamzah Sheeraz on tonight’s slate.
There is also going to be a performance by Liam Gallagher, who has a Wembley date of his own next year following the news of Oasis’ reunion. The frontman, who turns 52 today, announced his setlist on X last night and is giving the crowd what they want by playing the hits. Will Joshua and Dubois do the same?
