Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua, the boxing star professionally called Anthony Joshua, has been suspended from the ring by the British Boxing Board of Control.

Popularly called AJ, the two-time heavy weight world title holder’s 28-day ban follows the knockout (KO) he suffered after the hands of fellow British Daniel Dubois at the Wembley Stadium, London, Saturday, September 28.

While supporters were hopeful Joshua would clinch gold for the first time after losing his belts to Oleksandr Usyk in 2021, the occasion was to be AJ’s fourth loss in his entire career.

Per rules and regulations, whenever a boxer is floored via a KO or TKO, the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports directs mandatory medical suspensions. Thus, the ban on AJ.

For the former Olympic gold medalist, there are no scheduled fights, however. The impact of the month-long suspension on the boxer’s career plans is, thus, only a matter of debate.

Anthony Joshua’s campaign against Daniel Dubois in the IBF heavyweight boxing title bout has been criticised as an uninspiring fight on the part of the Nigerian-British. Failing to find firm footing in the fight, he was knocked down four times. In the fifth round, Dubois finished him off with a decisive and brutal right blow to the chin.

“I wasn’t going to be denied. He could have thrown everything at me, I would have come for it. That’s all I have to say,” Dubois, nicknamed Dynamite, remarked in a post-match interview, slapping the table and joking, also: “Mic drop!”

On September 23, Anthony Joshua spoke to fans in a video posted on social media. He accepted the defeat but stayed optimistic for the future.

“Yesterday, we came up short but we’ve got to look at all the positives. That’s the mindset and perspective that we have to have. A positive one, always. Look at what we’ve achieved in the space of 11 years. Phenomenal. I want to thanked every single one of you that’s been riding with me. What a rollercoaster journey… It’s far from over yet. We’ve done it once, we’ve done it twice, doing it a third time hasn’t been easy but I believe it’s something I can achieve. It’s about making the right steps forward, working hard, improving and it’s got to come from [the heart] more than anything. It can’t come from any external voices, or influences. It’s got to come from the heart. It’s only been a day but when I sit back thinking, I know I’ve got a lot of [heart in] this, man. Keep your seatbelts tight because deep, deep, deep down [in my heart], I know we’ve got a lot more to bring to the game,” he said.