Anthony Joshua is hungry for fame and wants to snatch the IBF belt from Daniel Dubois on September 21st at Wembley Stadium and become heavyweight world champion for the third time. AJ is the clear favorite against the clearly inexperienced Dubois. Shortly before the fight, however, stories circulated in the British media about a sparring session between the rivals from a long time ago – in which Joshua came off very badly.
The British heavyweights met in 2016 at the training center of the British Olympic boxing team in Sheffield. Joshua – Olympic champion in London four years earlier – was about to have his first world championship fight, while Dubois was taking his first steps as an amateur.
Anthony Fowler, a member of the British stable at the time, claims to have been present at the sparring session. “They were sparring like normal. Dubois was really young, he wasn’t really trying to win rounds,” Fowler told “talksSPORT”.
Joshua was probably a bit clumsy, “a left hook caught him and Joshua’s legs were gone. Dubois could have hit him again, but he had a little too much respect for him to finish him off,” said Fowler.
After the direct hit, Joshua “jogged around the ring because his legs were jelly, he was trying to get his legs back”.
Boxing: Joshua vs. Dubois in front of record crowd at Wembley
Dubois may not have knocked out the budding superstar (as other alleged witnesses claim), “but he was really, really battered.”
Fowler therefore believes that history could repeat itself on September 21 at London’s Wembley Stadium. “Joshua was usually ahead in sparring, but Dubois almost knocked him out with 18-ounce gloves and headgear. If he catches him with 10-ounce gloves, Joshua will go to sleep,” he said.
At the “Battle of Britain” in front of the English record crowd of 96,000 spectators, the IBF title that the Ukrainian world champion Oleksandr Usyk gave up in June is at stake.
Source: www.sport.de
