ANTHONY JOSHUA heads into his heavyweight title fight against Daniel Dubois as the favourite among fans and bookies.
But his potential demise could be hiding in the numbers.
AJ has only ever lost three times, starting with a 2019 upset to Andy Ruiz Jr which he avenged six months later.
But after losing to Oleskandr Usyk in 2021, he later failed to win back the unified titles in the rematch a year on.
All three defeats followed a similar pattern, with Joshua’s downfall starting near round four.
According to stats provided by Compubox, Joshua lands an average of just over 11 punches in round four when he wins – but only six in defeat.
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His punch accuracy also dips after the third round whenever he has lost but in victory it is never lower than 30 per cent from the second to 11th.
AJ was outpunched 31-23 by Ruiz from the fourth round to the seventh – when he was stopped following FOUR knockdowns.
But things looked good after three rounds, having floored Ruiz himself and sharing 25-24 in punches landed.
In his first points loss to Usyk, over 12 rounds Joshua had 19.2 per cent punch accuracy, compared to the Ukrainian’s 28 per cent.
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Dubois has also suffered defeat to Usyk, losing in round nine which came three years before a 10th-round stoppage to Joe Joyce.
He defends his IBF belt – for the first time – but even as champion he is considered the underdog.
But, if the stats are to be believed the fight could be decided less than half way into the all-British showdown.
Dubois, 27, comes into the bout off the back of two big wins over Jarrell Miller and Filip Hrgovic.
Meanwhile Joshua, 34, is on a run of four wins since failing to win back the titles from Usyk, 37, in August 2022.
Much has been made of AJ’s newfound form – a throwback to his ruthless prime – as Joshua insisted he has never been better.
He said: “I feel better now. I feel better for sure. More seasoned, hardened. A lot more development.
“Not so much dependent on one or two things in the ring. I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve.
“Been the 12 rounds. My punching power has improved. Defence has improved, yeah I feel good, much better than I used to.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
