Anthony Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn is trying his best to psych IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois into throwing him off his game by planting seeds of doubt in the young talent ahead of their fight on Saturday.
(Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)
That’s sneaky stuff from Hearn, but he has to try something because Joshua is the money man for his company. If Dubois Joshua’s ship sinks, there isn’t a guy waiting in the rings to fill his shoes to bring in the dough.
Hearn claims Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs) is an underdog for a reason because he’s not on Joshua’s level. Hearn makes these comments in the hope that one or two of them will be taken in by Dubois and make him feel like he’s in over his head.
The idea is for Hearn to get Dubois to quit mentally like some fans believe he did in his losses to Joe Joyce and Oleksandr Usyk. You see this kind of stuff from desperate people, and Hearn is concerned.
He can’t believe in Joshua after seeing him get beaten by Usyk in consecutive fights. If Hearn believed in AJ, he wouldn’t have looked at him like he has in the last two years. Hearn would have put Joshua back among the best.
“He’s a heavyweight, 6’6″ and about 18 stone. What would you expect from him not to look big and strong?” said Eddie Hearn Matchroom Boxingtalking about Daniel Dubois, who is coming to make mincemeat of Anthony Joshua on Saturday night.
“He is dangerous. People are looking for ways to talk up Daniel Dubois’s chances. You don’t have to. He’s a live underdog, but he’s an underdog, and he’s an underdog for a reason,” Hearn continued. “He is not as good as Anthony Joshua.
“He’s not a complete fighter like Anthony Joshua, but he’s very dangerous and that’s why people like to switch to the heavyweights. Anything can happen,” Hearn said.
“You have Dubois killing the King. It’s all very well talking that, but when you get in there, and you’re around them on fight week. You’ve seen Dubois in the head-to-head.
“You could see the chest go up and down. That doesn’t mean he’s not going to be dangerous, but having that presence around you means a lot in this sport. AJ is very calm, and he really feels like he’s a veteran in this game, which he is by the way,” Hearn said.
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