Tyson Fury loses big in Anthony Joshua’s boilover IBF heavyweight title defeat to Daniel Dubois

Most of the boxing world was left shocked by the brutal knockdown of former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua by Daniel Dubois.

But one ringside observer in particular appeared to take it harder than most.

Joshua lay stricken on the canvas following his brutal fifth-round knockout in his IBF world title fight, with Dubois exalting in his triumph in front of a record 98,128 crowd — the largest ever for a fight in the UK — at Wembley Stadium in London.

That crowd had risen to crown its newest champion.

But Tyson Fury stood scratching his head.

“Listen, that’s cost me 150 million [pounds],” Fury shouts.

“Of course it has! He’s f*****,” Fury continues, before shouting over to Turki Alalshikh, the Saudi Royal who has helped ensure that boxing’s biggest fights take place by using the billions of dollars at his disposal.

“Turki, you’d better pay me now,” Fury said.

Alalshikh, however, seemed far from too pleased himself.

During the broadcast of the event, the 43-year-old appeared to make a swift “cut” gesture to the camera operator as he stepped in front of his viewing position.

It was an understandable reaction from a fan of the sport desperate to arrange one of the sport’s most highly anticipated match-ups: An all-British showdown between Fury and Joshua.

It was even more understandable from someone with a financial stake in such a contest, seeing its lucrativeness disappearing with every thunderous blow that slammed into the head of British boxing’s most marketable asset.

Joshua was knocked down four times on his way to a fourth-career defeat to his younger counterpart, a brutal display of king-slaying that thrust Dubois back into the limelight that he seemed both destined to stand in and damned to be skirted by.

A boxer of immeasurable talent, Dubois has twice faced accusations of being not up to the brutal business of boxing.

Accused of quitting when taking a knee against fellow Brit Joe Joyce in 2020 — Dubois had a fractured eye socket and risked blindness, it later emerged — and then similarly going down when Oleksandr Usyk pummelled last year.

Usyk had, earlier in their fight gone down himself, only for the crushing body shot to be controversially ruled a low blow.

The London-born and raised Dubois was consoled in the ring by Usyk, the Ukrainian telling him that defeat is “not bad”.

“It’s boxing … Daniel, you young. You can dream. Man, dude, relax.”

Dubois, one of 11 children and brother of interim WBC women’s lightweight world champion Caroline, comes across as shy and retiring, a man of few words and, perhaps short-sightedly, few marketing quirks to hang a pay-per-view off.

Afterward, Fury praised Usyk — who was also ringside in London and has beaten Joshua, Fury, and Dubois in recent years — saying, “You taught them both a proper boxing lesson. Fair play to ya.”

Perhaps, in a world of brashness and bravado, boxing heads may need to start thinking outside the box.

Joshua moves to a professional record of 28-4 and is now at a crossroads that should, perhaps, result in his retirement.

He insisted after the fight that he would continue, while his promoter, Eddie Hearn said the prospect of a Fury fight was still available.

“We fancied winning tonight and facing the winner of Usyk vs Fury,” Hearn said.

“Now we may end up fighting the loser of that fight if it’s Fury.”

Fury and Usyk meet in a rematch of their undisputed fight on December 21 in Riyadh.

Usyk beat Fury by a split decision in May, becoming the first undisputed heavyweight champion in the four-belt era in the process.

Despite becoming undisputed, Usyk was forced to vacate his IBF belt to pursue a rematch with Fury, a belt now held by Dubois.

The 36-year-old former unified champion was more prosaic about Joshua’s prospects when interviewed later.

“It’s heavyweight boxing, s*** happens,” Fury told FightHub TV — a motto that could be extrapolated to include the entire sport.

“You get knocked spark out. It could have been me. In the heavyweight division, it’s what happens.

“What went wrong is what always happens in heavyweight boxing. A good right hand on the end of the chin, and that was it.”