Daniel Dubois pulled off the shock of this century, throwing enough right hooks to catch a whale, let alone knock out Anthony Joshua, and dramatically launching world heavyweight boxing into its next generation.
The 27-year-old Londoner not only retained his IBF championship but also blew up the myth that led most of the boxing world to believe that Joshua, at almost 35, could recycle himself and become a three-time world heavyweight champion.
For the British Olympic gold medallist and long-time master of the British ring, it seems more likely that he will retire than join that elite. For Dubois, after one of the most astonishing nights ever experienced at Wembley or any other stadium, the world is at his feet.
For starters, he swallowed Joshua alive. Four knockdowns in less than five rounds were only half the fight. From the start, in the form of a big right for the first knockdown, Joshua staggered and lashed out in a fog of despair.
Had the referee followed the rules strictly, he would have counted at least eight times in each round. Of the two giants who are billed as the hardest punchers in boxing today, Dubois was a cannon to a pistol.
Daniel Dubois (right) shocked the world by knocking out Anthony Joshua (left) on Saturday
Dubois landed a stunning right hook in the fifth round from which Joshua could not recover.
The 27-year-old landed a host of brutal punches throughout the fight at Wembley Stadium.
In doing so, Dubois retained his IBF heavyweight title and will continue to rise in the division.
What will hurt Joshua more than his failure to take the IBF belt from the young defending champion’s waist is that his legendary left jab was outclassed. Simply put aside.
AJ can only be in awe for continuing to stagger back to his feet in the face of such heartbreaking blows.
It is also incredible that before the fatal shot fell in the fifth round, he himself summoned a Hail Mary that stopped Dubois in his tracks on his way to glory. If only for a moment before he was reduced to sleeping like a baby curled up on the canvas.
The future of heavyweight boxing has been rewritten and the fortunes invested by Saudi Arabia in the toughest sport have been redirected.
It is now a question whether the long-awaited – perhaps overly long if we are being honest – Battle of Britain between Joshua and Tyson Fury will ever happen.
There is a new ruler of the ring and a hundred million dollar fight without him in the corner doesn’t seem like such a fascinating prospect.
Not even the most impressive pre-fight show ever staged, with all its pyrotechnics, could upstage Dynamite Daniel.
Dubois caught Joshua with a lightning-quick counterpunch as he moved forward.
‘AJ’ was sent crashing to the canvas for the fourth time that night and was unable to recover.
Dubois watched from above as Joshua regained consciousness, before being quickly dismissed.
The stadium gradually filled up as 96,000 ticket holders cautiously made their way to the sold-out seats, ensuring their safety.
A new record, the promoters claimed. Well, at least at this new Wembley. Not at the old venue with the Twin Towers. On an April afternoon in 1923, in the first football match ever played at the original Wembley, Bolton Wanderers won the FA Cup by beating West Ham United 2-0 in what became known as the White Horse Final.
It was so named because a police stallion named Billy made the kick-off possible by pushing tens of thousands of fans off the field of play to within a metre or more behind the touchlines.
The official attendance at the match was 126,407, including King George V, who was among the small minority who sat down. Unofficial estimates of the standing crowd ranged from 300,000 to 330,000.
The only royal present to see Joshua and Dubois in combat was the Gypsy King.
There were roars of welcome as Tyson Fury took his seat, a ringside chair next to Oleksandr Usyk, whom he will face in a rematch for the remaining heavyweight belts in Riyadh during Christmas week.
Joshua found himself on the canvas in the first round after a blistering start from Dubois.
Joshua received three standing counts as he fought to remain in the heavyweight title clash.
Fellow British heavyweight Tyson Fury was in attendance and watched intently.
Win or lose for a second time against the Ukrainian war mascot, Fury hoped his next Wembley appearance would be in another British blockbuster, the long-awaited showdown with Joshua. Although Saudi Arabia is in the planning stages of an even more monumental stadium in the desert.
Either way, these ring giants have plenty more to gain, as long as they keep delivering Sheikh, Rattle and Roll thrillers.
This time it was Joshua and Dubois’ turn to keep the Arab payers on the edge of their seats.
In the world of top-level boxing, AJ and DDD were presented by their promoters as heavy hitters who would use all of their renowned power to fight their way to the IBF title, thus keeping the Riyadh season on track.
Dubois and Joshua had played their part in the build-up, engaging in a furious brawl on a television promo and then each threatening to crush the other.
Otherwise, during the week of the fight, Joshua, accustomed as he is to these big events, had been calm, relaxed, smiling and eloquent. The closer the big night came, the more tense Dubois became.
He banged on a table when he objected to a question and gave curt one-, two- or three-word answers to others.
That’s the pressure-cooker atmosphere of nights like this. The volume turns up as a group of celebrities receives standing ovations when they appear on the big screens, whether they’re A-list or Z-list.
Liam Gallagher took it to the next level with his rendition of a pair of hits that will appear on Oasis’ reunion tour.
Before the main event, Liam Gallagher set the tone with a performance of a pair of hits that will appear on the Oasis reunion tour.
Dubois will now turn his attention to Oleksandr Usyk’s fight with Tyson Fury in December
The gladiators arrive, the serious ones arrive, eardrums burst. The atmosphere was at its most lively that autumn night when Dubois and Joshua entered a bear pit through rings of fire and under fireworks exploding in the night sky above the stadium.
The challenger initially entered to the tune of The Godfather — as befitted his veteran status in this conflagration — with Dubois accompanied by his trainer Don Charles, who was reported to have been fired earlier in the week.
The national anthem of Saudi Arabia, which had funded this extravaganza in North London, and God Save The King were sung with varying levels of enthusiasm before Michael Buffer declared them Ready to Rumble.
After the show, this fight had a lot going for it. Fortunately, that’s exactly what it achieved.
