Anthony Joshua’s Return: A Questionable Rehabilitation?

Many people doubt whether Anthony Joshua is truly back to top form after defeating four sub-level heavyweights to rebuild mentally.

Dubois: A Trigger for Past Trauma?

The former two-time heavyweight champion Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) is coming off a four-fight winning streak heading into a title challenge against IBF champion Daniel Dubois on September 21st at Wembley Stadium in London.

We don’t know if Joshua can get into the trenches with a young apex predator like Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs) without crumbling mentally and suffering flashbacks of the traumatic events from his two defeats against Oleksandr Usyk.

Dubois could trigger those memories inside Joshua once he begins landing his heavy shots on him in front of what could be a record-breaking crowd of 100,000+ fans at Wembley Stadium on the night.

Tomato Can Opponents Raise Doubts

“I don’t go with the camp that says Anthony Joshua is fully rehabilitated because, ultimately, he’s fought fighters that really didn’t hit him back,” said Simon Jordan to talkSport Boxing, talking about Anthony Joshua still not having proven that he’s come back from his two losses to Oleksandr Usyk due to the four sub-level opponents he’s faced since then.

To say that Joshua is fully rehabilitated after beating this gang of four tomato cans is absurd:

– Francis Ngannou
– Otto Wallin
– Robert Helenius
– Jermaine Franklin

For Joshua to be fully back to where he was when his promoter rolled off the showroom floor in 2013, he would need to beat these heavyweights:

Oleksander Usyk: The King
Tyson Fury
Agit Kabayel
Jared Anderson
Daniel Dubois
Martin Bakole

“Jermaine Franklin had a little go, but ultimately, Helenius got knocked out without landing a glove on him, Wallin was nowhere near him, and Nganou was done with what should have been done with Tyson Fury,” said Simon.

Half of those fights should have never happened. Robert Helenius had recently been knocked out, Ngannou had lost his last fight, Wallin looked in woeful shape, and Franklin was coming off a defeat against Dillian Whyte.

“I think if Daniel [Dubois] detonates on him, and I said the other day, and the snake oil salesman [Eddie Hearn?] didn’t like it, that he’ll [Joshua] get PTSD [Post-traumatic stress disorder aka Battle Fatigue] because he’ll take him back to the space where the question is is Anthony Joshua hasn’t wanted to go deep in the trenches,” said Simon.

The Trenches: A Test of Joshua’s Resilience

If Dubois takes Joshua into the trenches, the chances are high that he’ll mentally and physically fall apart and get taken out. This could be really bad for Joshua, who would be going into his match against Fury off the back of a loss.

“There’s a distinct possibility that Daniel Dubois is going to drag him in there, and if he does, it’s going to be a fascinating fight because he has the power,” said Simon. “We were writing about this kid three or four years ago, ‘Forget Joshua, forget Tyson Fury. This kid, Daniel ‘Dynamite’ Dubois, is the one to watch.’”

Joshua is too old and has too much wear on him to handle getting dragged into a war with Dubois. Joshua will be fine if it’s a short fight where he scores a knockout, but he’ll be in trouble if it goes past six rounds and he has to take heavy shots.

“Then we’ve seen the challenges happen. I expected him to beat Jarrell Miller. Yes,” said Simon when asked if he views Dubois as a top-tier heavyweight. “I’m not sure he wins this fight, but there’s a bloody good chance he might.”