Daniel Dubois scored the biggest win of his career, knocking out former unified champion Anthony Joshua to earn his first IBF heavyweight title defense in the main event of a boxing card at London's Wembley Stadium on Saturday.
Dubious got off to a good start dropping Joshua to end Round 1, then flooring him again at the end of the third. Dubois knocked out Joshua in Round 5 for the victory.
Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs), of London, won the IBF interim title with an impressive eighth-round TKO victory over Filip Hrgovic in June to set up the Joshua fight. Dubois was elevated to full champion weeks later when Oleksandr Usyk decided to fight Tyson Fury in a rematch instead of facing mandatory challenger Dubois.
In August 2023, Dubois, 27, challenged Usyk for the WBC, WBO and WBA titles and thought he won the fight when he landed a body punch in the fifth round that sent Usyk in pain to the canvas, but referee Luis Pabon ruled it a low blow. Usyk dominated the fight after that, scoring a knockdown in Round 8 before finishing Dubois in the ninth.
Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs), of Watford, England, suffered his first loss since August 2022.
On Friday in Glendale, Arizona, Jaime Munguia defeated Erik Bazinyan by 10th-round KO in a super middleweight bout.
Munguia (44-1, 35 KOs) was fighting for the first time since his unanimous decision loss to Canelo Alvarez last May.
Mungia, 27, of Tijuana, Mexico, is a former junior middleweight champion who has been moving up in weight looking for bigger challengers. He has notable victories over Gabriel Rosado, Sergiy Derevyanchenko and John Ryder, among others.
Bazinyan (31-1-1, 23 KOs), 29, of Yerevan, Armenia but now living in Quebec, Canada, was fighting in the U.S. for the first time in five years. He has beaten tough opposition, including Billi Facundo Godoy, Ronald Ellis and Marcelo Coceres.
Also on Friday, in Dublin, Ireland, junior middleweight prospect Callum Walsh defeated Przemyslaw Runowski by second-round KO in a scheduled 10-round bout.
Walsh (12-0, 10 KOs), of Cork, Ireland, but now living in Hollywood, California, has won seven of his past eight fights by stoppage, including a second-round TKO of Carlos Ortiz Cervantes in June. The 23-year-old is a 6-foot southpaw with power who was fighting in his home country for the first time since turning pro.
Results from the Joshua-Dubois fight card:
Title fight: Daniel Dubois defeated Anthony Joshua by KO5, wins the vacant IBF heavyweight title
Hamzah Sheeraz defeated Tyler Denny by TKO2 in a middleweight bout
Joshua Buatsi defeated Willy Hutchinson by SD12, wins vacant WBO interim light heavyweight title
Title fight: Anthony Cacace defeated Josh Warrington by UD12, retains IBF junior lightweight title
Josh Kelly defeated Ishmael Davis by MD12 in a middleweight bout
Josh Padley defeated Mark Chamberlain by UD10 in a lightweight bout
Munguia dominates, stops Bazinyan
Jaime Munguia defeated Erik Bazinyan by 10th-round KO Friday night at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
Bazinyan started the fight strong, landing 11 jabs per round through the first three, way above his average of 6.6. But he couldn't keep Munguia away, By the sixth round, Munguia was in control after neutralizing Bazinyan's jab with good head movement and quick footwork, plus adding a consistent body attack.
Munguia was close to ending the fight in Round 7 when he connected with a nice lead jab, right cross, left hook combination that wobbled Bazinyan. But Bazinyan recovered and was able to end the round on the offensive.
Munguia continued landing to the body until he broke down Bazinyan in Round 10. A left hook to the head hurt Bazinyan and after a flurry of punches against the ropes, Munguia sent him to the canvas for the count at 2:36 of the round.
"He never hurt me. He hits hard," Munguia said of Bazinyan after the fight. "I could tell that he had a hard punch, but at no point did he hurt me. It was a fight where I had to go on little by little."
After two fights with Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach in his corner, Munguia (44-1, 35 KOs) went back to his previous trainer Erik Morales -- another Hall of Famer -- for this fight, but showed the same style, landing his trademark jab and body punching style.
Munguia, of Tijuana, Mexico, is a former WBO junior middleweight champion who made five successful defenses before moving up in weight. After six fights at middleweight, the 27-year-old moved up to 168 pounds and defeated Sergiy Derevyanchenko in June 2023, before stopping John Ryder in nine rounds in January. The win earned him a May fight against Canelo Alvarez for the undisputed super middleweight championship. Munguia started well against Alvarez, applying pressure, and even won three rounds on all scorecards, but lost a unanimous decision (117-110, 116-111 and 115-112).
When asked what might be next, Munguia said he would like to continue delivering great fights for the fans.
"There are great things to come, great fights at 168 pounds," Munguia said. "There's Caleb Plant, there's [Edgar] Berlanga, there's Christian Mbilli. There are great fights and we're going to give great wars as well."
Bazinyan (32-1-1, 23 KOs), of Yerevan, Armenia, but now living in Quebec, Canada, suffered the first defeat of his professional career. The fight was a step up for Bazinyan, who was fighting in the U.S. for the first time in almost five years. His biggest victories were a unanimous decision over former title super middleweight challenger Marcelo Coceres in 2022, and a sixth-round TKO of Ronald Ellis in 2023, both in Montreal.
"I felt very comfortable and I was feeling I was winning," Bazinyan said. "I felt he was very frustrated with my jab, right hand, my counters, and he was getting tired and I was feeling him very frustrated and all of a sudden I got cut and I don't know what happened."
After starting his career at light heavyweight, Bazinyan, 29, split his time fighting at 168 and 175 pounds, but he has settled at super middleweight for his past 15 fights.
Also on the card, heavyweight prospect Richard Torrez Jr. defeated Joey Dawejko by fifth round disqualification, after Dawejko was warned multiple times for excessive loss of his mouthpiece.
Torrez (11-0, 10 KOs), of Tulare, California, who won an Olympic silver medal for the U.S. at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, saw his KO streak end. Of his 11 wins, Torrez, 25, has five victories in the first round and has been past the fifth round only once.
Results from Glendale, Arizona:
Richard Torrez Jr. claims victory after Joey Dawejko's mouthpiece excessively falls out, forcing a disqualification.
Jaime Munguia defeated Erik Bazinyan by KO10 in a super middleweight bout
Richard Torrez Jr. defeated Joey Dawejko by fifth-round DQ in a heavyweight bout
Emiliano Vargas defeated Larry Fryers by TKO5 in a junior welterweight bout
Charly Suarez defeated Jorge Castaneda by TKO3 in a junior lightweight bout
Ricardo Fernandez defeated Alan Garcia by KO5 in a lightweight bout
DJ Zamora defeated Gerardo Perez by UD8 in a junior lightweight bout
Art Barrera Jr. vs. Frank Brown, 6 rounds, welterweights
Steven Navarro defeated Oscar Arroyo by TKO3 in a junior bantamweight bout
Jorge Garcia defeats Ilias Essaoudi by KO1 in a junior middleweight bout
Sebastian Hernandez defeated Yonfrez Parejo by TKO4 in a junior featherweight bout
Results from the Walsh-Runowski fight card
Callum Walsh defeats Przemyslaw Runowski by KO2 in a junior middleweight bout
Ali Akhmedov defeated Pierre Hubert Dibombe by SD10 in a super middleweight bout
Craig O'Brien defeated Edward Donovan by sixth-round technical decision in a junior middleweight bout
Thomas Carty defeated Jacek Chruslicki by KO2 in a heavyweight bout
Emmet Brennan defeatd Kevin Cronin by SD8 in a light heavyweight bout
Shauna O'Keeffe defeated Valgerdur Gudsteinsdottir by TKO4 in a women's lightweight bout
Top stories
What the numbers tell us about Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois
Bradley's take -- How Joshua can beat his younger self in Dubois boxing match
Anthony Joshua vows to 'break' Daniel Dubois in heavyweight title
Anthony Joshua the biggest British boxing star ever - Eddie Hearn
Joshua vs Dubois: Five things to know about 'Dynamite' Dubois
Oleksandr Usyk vacating IBF title ahead of Joshua-Dubois bout
Oleksandr Usyk survives scare, stops Daniel Dubois to retain titles