what is next for AJ?

With the floodlights of the famous Wembley stadium dimmed less than 48 hours ago, could we be saying the same about the long and distinguished career of Anthony Joshua.

The Watford banger, a month shy of his 35th birthday, was brutally beaten into submission by reigning IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubious in 5 one sided rounds on Saturday night in front of 98000 satisfied fight fans.

The nightmare evening for AJ started as early as the 1st round when he was clipped by a right hook and dropped late in the round. A weary AJ pulled himself up from the canvas, to find out that thankfully there were only seconds left in the round, enabling him to make it back to his corner. With a minute to regroup, could Joshua find a way to respond to Dubois's ferocious onslaught. Unfortunately, whatever corner man Ben Davison was whispering into the former Olympic champions ear had little effect.

The 27 year old IBF champ continued to pummel and out jab Joshua, sending him to the canvas four times before the stoppage in the 5th round. In fact, AJ's only real success was in the last 30 seconds before the final right hand from Dubois, when he started to gather momentum. He finally got off a series of heavy blows before turning straight into a crushing right from Dubois, that sent him face first to the canvas for the final time.

So where does Anthony Joshua go from here? He wakes up this morning ever further away from his quest of becoming a 3-time world champion. A fight with Usyk would now be pointless and a fight with either Wilder, Parker, Whyte, or any of the other fringe contenders could be hazardous. There is a rematch clause with Daniel Dubois, but would there be a different outcome next time? Although the fight was as exciting as we had hoped for and granted, Joshua did make a lot of mistakes, going to the canvas 4 times wouldn't inspire anyone in Team AJ that the immovable object that Dubois is turning into, would allow AJ to prevail next time out.

Obviously, there is the Tyson Fury fight. It’s still a big fight potentially. Fury was at ringside on Saturday and must be kicking himself that it wasn't him inside the ropes instead of sitting next to the most powerful man in boxing, Turki Alalshikh. Fury has his own redemption battle ahead against the Ukrainian genius Oleksandr Usyk just before Christmas. With all the best will in the world the Watford man wouldn't be ready to fight either Dubois or Fury before late spring next year. Assuming Usyk wins again and how he wins, would the Gypsy King, who will 37  soon, hang about to make the long-awaited battle of the formerly two best heavy's in the UK. Should Fury win, then obviously it’s all systems go for another bumper night of boxing between two fighters that probably should have fought each other 3 years previously when they were both title holders.

Joshua has been pivotal in the revival of boxing in the UK. Fight fans worldwide should be grateful for his contribution to the sport. It's going to be a frustrating time for the 2 time heavyweight champion, who for the first time in his career will have to wait in line to see how the landscape plays out before he has that final roll of the boxing dice.