Dubois vs Joshua: Extended Ticket Sales Set Record for All-British World Heavyweight Title Bout

On September 21st, interim IBF World heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois will meet fellow Londoner Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium to battle for the full IBF World title. It’ll be Dubois’ second shot at a world strap and Joshua’s crack at becoming a three-time world champion.

Whoever wins will likely eye up a shot at the undisputed world heavyweight crown with a rumble against the winner of Usyk-Fury II next year. Showcasing the appetite for top-class title fights in the UK, the nation’s largest stadium sold out for this fight, and then the promoters were permitted to offer even more.

Record-breaking attendance for Dubois-Joshua

According to Turki Al-Sheikh – who’s organising the fight card as part of its association with Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Season – all of the initially allocated tickets for Dubois versus Joshua sold out. So, 90,000 tickets for the world title bout and the stacked undercard went rapidly. So, Al-Sheikh petitioned to expand the capacity further.

Since, they’ve revealed that the capacity of Wembley Stadium and the number of available tickets was increased. Now, there’ll be 94,000 people in attendance, which puts it past the Tyson Fury versus Dillian Whyte fight at the same venue. So, it’ll be the biggest fight in the UK ever and the biggest in Europe post-war.

Given what’s on the line and the prominence of both fighters, it makes sense that Joshua would, once again, command a mighty audience at Wembley Stadium. Previously, he’s packed Wembley for his defence against Alexander Povetkin and the rumble for the ages against Wladimir Klitschko to unify.

Will Joshua make it three from three at Wembley?

In what will be Joshua’s third time headlining Wembley Stadium, and fourth time at the venue overall – having faced Matt Legg on the Froch vs Groves undercard in May 2014 – he’s the obvious and clear favourite. He may be the challenger, but at -435 odds to win compared to Dubois’ +285, it’s clear that the online sports gambling markets favour the former unified world champion.

AJ’s been going through a rebuild since his back-to-back losses against Oleksandr Usyk, jumping between a few trainers through his four-fight winning streak. He’s now with Ben Davison, who’s been emphasizing Joshua’s need to go forward and utilize his power – rather than fight on the outside and pepper shots as he did in the Ruiz rematch.

Joshua has looked very good, and he was all-out destructive against Francis Ngannou, who’d just embarrassed Tyson Fury to earn a split decision loss to the towering Brit. This is a problem for Dubois. While his chin is monstrous, against a grossly unfit Jarrell Miller, Dubois ate many, many big hits from clearly telegraphed shots.

Against Filip Hrgovic, who was 17-0-0 before they met in June this year, Dubois looked to be losing all but the second and penultimate rounds of the fight. Against Miller, Dubois had the cards but got the TKO with ten seconds to go. Against Hrgovic, the Croatian was up on the cards, fighting far better, but a nasty eyebrow cut ended it.

In both fights, Dubois showed tremendous ambition and drive, willing to step into big hits to get his own away. When the opportunity arose, he pounced, mauling his opponents with a flurry of power punches. However, Joshua is far stronger, fitter, and more refined as a boxer than Miller or Hrgovic.

If one of Joshua’s trademark uppercuts gets through, it’s tough to see Dubois gobbling up so well and still move forward. On the flip side, when Joshua lost to Ruiz, it all started to crumble when he couldn’t handle the mauling from the shorter fighter.

It’s an interesting bout, and while it’s not the biggest that could come to these shores, Dubois-Joshua has certainly got British boxing fans excited.