(By Eurosport)
The one-sided nature of Anthony Joshua's defeat against Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium led former world champions Lennox Lewis and Carl Frampton to question his future in the ring. Both ex-fighters felt that Joshua's poor performance throughout the IBF world heavyweight title clash suggested that he would find it tough to get back to his best. Joshua was stopped in the fifth round.
Daniel Dubois and Anthony Joshua react after their IBF World Heavyweight Title fight at Wembley.
Image credit: Getty Images
Former world champions Lennox Lewis and Carl Frampton questioned whether Anthony Joshua should return to the ring after his crushing defeat to Daniel Dubois.
Joshua challenged Dubois for the IBF heavyweight world title at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night, but he was repeatedly knocked to the canvas before Dubois ultimately left him sprawled out and unable to beat the count in the fifth round.
The 34-year-old has lost before, once against Andy Ruiz and twice against Oleksandr Usyk, but never in such dramatic circumstances.
Given his age and the previous three defeats, questions were asked over the Briton’s future in the sport.
While there is a rematch clause, the scale of his defeat means he would go into the second fight as the underdog, and the chances of a long-anticipated fight with Tyson Fury appear slim, whether world titles are at stake or not.
Speaking to TNT Sports after the fight, former undisputed heavyweight champion Lewis suggested the manner of the defeat is a problem.
He said: "It's really up to him mentally. It was a bad defeat. He was on the floor a lot of times.
"It's hard to come back from that. He can work hard and look at what he did wrong. But he's got the mental strength, he can come back."
Frampton concurred, adding: "It's going to be a difficult watch for AJ. If you get knocked out by one shot, it's not as bad as getting beat up like that. As a boxer, you get the resilience knocked out of you.
"When you're a boxer, when you are in wars where you get up and down off the canvas, you lose the resilience, you can't get it back.
"You can't come back and get a better chin - once it's gone, it's gone."
Read original story on Eurosport.com
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