Hear: “Joshua a 100 times better” fighter now than in Klitschko fight

Eddie Hearn is convinced Anthony Joshua will only need to be himself to dethrone IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois on Saturday night as he is now a “100 times better fighter” than when he fought Wladimir Klitschko in 2017.

If Joshua is now “100 times better” than he was seven years ago, he should make easy work of Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs), as long as he doesn’t get chinned. Even if Joshua is technically a better fighter, he’s still in his mid-30s and has had a long career.

Hearn credits Joshua’s development to trainer Ben Davison’s work since teaming up for his fight with Otto Wallin last December.

Because of the limited opposition, we haven’t seen if the improvements Hearn talks about with Joshua are real or imagined.

The 34-year-old Joshua has fought just twice since adding Davison as his trainer. AJ beat Wallin and Francis Ngannou. These aren’t quite top competitions, and that might explain why Joshua looked so good.

“Just be himself. He did work. A great training squad, tactics, and we know exactly what we have to do,” said Eddie Hearn Matchroom Boxing on what Anthony Joshua needs to do to defeat Daniel Dubois on Saturday.

“When you look back at all those fights and the Klitschko fight, it almost makes me laugh a little bit at how far he’s come with the real knowledge and ability he had at the time,” Hearn continued of Joshua.

AJ’s stamina was better when he fought Klitschko, and he was more willing to attack his opponents. Joshua is now slower, older and more cautious due to his age, chin problems and conditioning issues.

“He’s a 100 times better fighter now than he was then. Footwork, defense, experience, knowledge, everything. Back then it was just pure heart, rawness and brute force. Now, he has every attribute. The best heavyweight in the world, and we will prove it on Saturday night,” Hearn said.

The way Joshua fights now would not work against Wladimir as he would be fighting at a slow pace, and that would have given the former unified world champion enough time to line him up with one of his big shots.

“I know exactly what I’m going to do. I don’t leave it to anyone. I know exactly what to do, and I’m going to do it, and I will do it,” Joshua said.

AJ isn’t giving any hints about his game plan for Saturday, but he’ll likely try to start slow to avoid being caught early by Dubois. Aside from Joshua’s fight with one-fight novice Ngannou, Joshua has not knocked out opponents earlier than the fifth round in the last eight years since 2016.