His Excellency Turki Alalshikh hopes that next month’s event hosted by Daniel Dubois and Anthony Joshua, the IBF heavyweight champion, will set a record for boxing attendance on September 21 at Wembley Stadium, London, England. The current record is for the match between Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte, which drew a crowd of 94,000 to Wembley Stadium on April 23, 2022.
Tickets are still on sale for the Joshua-Dubois fight, but it could end in the real sense on September 21. British fans are excited about the fight, they want to see the 34-year-old Joshua renew his career to become a three-time heavyweight champion and put himself in a position to fight Tyson Fury after that.
The return of Vintage Joshua?
Fans in the UK want to see if Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) can return to the form he has had for the past several years. That is the main reason why tickets are sold. AJ has struggled since 2019, losing three times and looks to be on the mend after his second loss to Oleksandr Usyk in 2022.
Promoter Eddie Hearn has revived him a bit with his brilliant match, but we don’t know if he’s back because his opponents have been 100% tomato cans in his last four fights. So, the Dubois fight will test whether the vintage, fully restored 2013 version of Joshua is back.
It may be physically difficult to bring Joshua back to where he was 11 years ago. He has taken a lot of punishment on his head, and he is in his 30s now. He has always been rocking in the chin department and in his fitness. His 2012 Olympic gold medal is in doubt, and he would have lost to Wladimir Klitschko in 2017 if he had had his old trainer, Emanuel Steward, in his corner. Steward died in 2012.
Fans have mixed opinions about the undercard of Joshua vs. Dubois. While British fans are excited about the fights on the undercard, American fans see British fights going nowhere on the world stage:
Undercard:
– Tyler Denny vs. Hamzah Sheeraz
– Anthony Cacace vs. Josh Warrington
– Liam Smith vs. Josh Kelly
– Joshua Buatsi vs. Wily Hutchinson
– Mark Chamberlain vs. Josh Padley
Due to the high demand for tickets..We have asked to extend the capacity at Wembley Stadium for the highly anticipated fight between Joshua and Dubois. #RiyadhSeasonCard Wembley Edition 🔥
We hope to set a record for the biggest attendance in boxing history at Wembley Stadium😎🇸🇦🥊… pic.twitter.com/dSumJwVv48– TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) August 27, 2024
