Anthony Joshua was knocked down three times by Daniel Dubois before a final knockout blow in the fifth round in front of over 96,000 fans at Wembley Stadium.

‘AJ’ stepped through the ropes a favourite but looked notably slower than champion Dubois straight from the first bell, suffering a knockdown at the end of the opening round that set the tone thereafter.

The 34-year-old answered any questions about his will to fight through adversity, getting up time and again despite increasingly unsteady legs. It was a testament to his grit that his best success in the fight came directly before Dubois scored the knockout blow.

Speaking at the post-fight press conference, trainer Ben Davison – who has been credited with Joshua’s rebuild up until this point – was asked if there was a time during the fight he was considering throwing in the towel.

“Yeah of course, you have to keep that in mind when a fight is going like that, it’s something you have to be aware of. Going into the last round, he came back to the corner and said ‘these are the moments we live for. Tough moments.’ He spoke about rolling the dice. He rolled the dice and hurt Daniel but was just a little bit reckless in terms of his application right in the final moments.”

Joshua confirmed that he would fight on, dismissing retirement at this stage. Promoter Eddie Hearn revealed post-fight that there is a rematch clause that they will consider activating.