Daniel Dubois dismantled former two-time world champion Anthony Joshua in front of 96,000 fans at London’s Wembley Stadium and defended his IBF heavyweight title for the first time in impressive fashion.

Dubois, 27, was the underdog, but he dropped Joshua multiple times to put himself in position to fight for the unified titles and ruin his opponent’s once-scattering career.

The 34-year-old Joshua wanted to emulate Muhammad Ali, Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis and become a three-time world champion. But he was knocked down by Dubois in the first round and was never able to fully recover.

In the fifth round, he briefly seemed to unbalance the otherwise dominant Dubois, but his domestic rival immediately ended the fight with a stunning right counter hook.

“Doesn’t that entertain you?” Dubois said after the fight to great cheers. “This is my time, my story of redemption. And I won’t stop until I’ve reached my full potential.”

Dubois has now put himself in position to potentially face the winner of the rematch between WBA, WBC and WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, but his promoter Frank Warren vowed that the IBF champion will “stay busy”.

Joshua said he felt “screwed” about losing, but quickly vowed to keep boxing after his fourth defeat in the last five years. “I risked everything and came up short,” he said. “But I’m going to keep risking.” Eddie Hearn, his promoter, then said Joshua was interested in a rematch.