Anthony Joshua was brutally stopped in the fifth round by domestic rival and IBF world heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois on Saturday night at Wembley Stadium.
The emphatic finish arrived shortly after the 34-year-old – who, by this point, had been floored three times – rallied back to land some thudding right hands of his own.
But, when he threw an audaciously long right uppercut, the Olympic gold medallist left himself wide open for a decisive counter from Daniel Dubois, who halted proceedings with a viral knockout.
And yet, former super middleweight world champion Carl Froch believes that the mistake can be explained by some bewildering advice from Anthony Joshua’s trainer, Ben Davison.
Carl Froch questions Ben Davison’s corner advice
Prior to his fourth professional defeat, many were saying that this new version of ‘AJ’ – under the tutelage of Davison – was the most complete and polished version they’d seen.
This narrative emerged following Joshua’s comprehensive stoppages against Francis Ngannou and Otto Wallin who, of course, were not on the same level as Dubois.
And now, Froch has claimed that the mistakes made by Joshua can largely be explained by the contributions from his head coach.
“At the end of round four, [Joshua] sat down in his corner and the advice from Ben Davison was very strange,” he said on Froch On Fighting.
“Ben Davison told him to roll the dice; told him to go for it. I think it was a double jab but the main punch would’ve been the right uppercut.
“He wanted AJ to look for the uppercut on his front foot, which is a dangerous punch because, when you throw that uppercut out of range, you leave your chin exposed.”
Shane McGuigan predicted Anthony Joshua vs Daniel Dubois stoppage
Froch is not the only spectator who has raised issues regarding Joshua’s corner, as esteemed boxing trainer Shane McGuigan echoed the Cobra’s analysis on BBC Radio 5 Live.
The son of legendary Irish boxer Barry McGuigan seemingly got his prediction spot on, too, suggesting that Davison’s advice to “roll the dice” would ultimately lead to Joshua’s demise.
While many are now critiquing Davison – the former head coach of Tyson Fury – there was a largely different story in the build-up to Dubois’ victory, with a notable portion of the boxing fraternity heaping him with praise for Joshua’s recent, more refined performances.
Nevertheless, it is easy to conclude that, in hindsight, rolling the dice was perhaps not the wisest decision.