Anthony Joshua scathingly praised Daniel Dubois in an interview today, talking about getting repeated opportunities after losses.
A sense of superiority
One can sense that Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) feels he is better than Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs) even though the tables have turned in their careers, with Daniel, the IBF heavyweight champion, and AJ, the challenger in their headliner clash on September 21 at Wembley Stadium in London.
Dubois is the underdog for their fight, but many believe he will wear down the 34-year-old Joshua, knocking him out in the later rounds if he gets that far.
AJ’s promoter Eddie Hearn brought him back from the brink with four carefully selected opponents following his second loss to Oleksandr Usyk on August 20, 2022.
Manufactured Success
Hearn matched Joshua against these four fighters to rebuild him mentally:
– Francis Ngannou
– Otto Wallin
—Robert Helenius
– Jermaine Franklin
Joshua didn’t look impressive against Franklin and Helenius. However, AJ looked good in his last two fights against Wallin and Ngannou, but it was a decline in competition.
Hearn may have realized that Joshua needed less opposition to make an impact after fighting Helenius and Franklin. So he wisely chose starter Francis Ngannou and 34-year-old Wallin to make Joshua look brand new.
“It’s going to be a tough night’s work for sure. It’s just Daniel Dubois. I said at the press conference table. It could have been anyone,” Anthony Joshua told DAZN Boxing YouTube channel. “Daniel worked hard enough to put himself there, so be it.”
A “tough night’s work” is an understatement by Joshua. There’s a good chance he’ll lose to Dubois, putting the soon-to-be 35-year-old Joshua in a tough position where he has to decide whether to take the rematch or walk away from the defeat to face Tyson Fury next.
The old Joshua would try to avenge his loss, but he may not because it is now or never with Fury, who is showing signs of being over-the-hill at 36. If Joshua doesn’t fight Fury now, it may be too late if he waits to get beaten again after his rematch with Usyk on December 21.
That one will likely end badly for Fury unless he can win a controversial decision, as we saw in his fight with Ngannou. If you count that as a loss, Fury is 0-2 in his last two fights, heading for retirement.
“Are you surprised at how quickly Dubois got there?” Ade Oladipo said of Dubois’ quick move over the past two years, battling Oleksandr Usyk, Jarrell Miller and Filip Hrgovic.
“Yes,” said Joshua. “They believe in him. That’s why they keep giving him these opportunities,” Joshua said of Dubois. “Someone out there believes in him, and he continues to get opportunity after opportunity. It reminds me of the Frank Bruno story. He had opportunity after opportunity to fight for the heavyweight championship of the world. Sooner or later he got it.”
Joshua fails to mention that Dubois’ fight against Usyk was a controversial one on August 26, 2023. He should have received a fifth-round knockout after dropping him with a body blow that the referee deemed a low blow. . Replays showed it was on the belt line of Usyk’s trunks, which were pulled up close to his ribcage, almost as high as Fury wears his.
“You were first for the Hrgovic fight. So, you’ve seen it up close. How impressed were you with that performance against a guy against a guy, Hrgovic, everyone said at the time was a top six or top seven heavyweight?” said Ade.
“I went to the fight and watched, and as you say, Hrgovic was a boogeyman. People respected him. He fought well, but it wasn’t good enough,” Joshua said. “There were times in the fight where the tides turned in Daniel’s favor and turned in Hrgovic’s favor. I thought, ‘This is a good fight.’
“I could see where Daniel was starting to shoot out, and it was due to conditioning. He could keep breaking through brick wall after brick wall. After a while, Hrgovic couldn’t get through brick wall after brick wall.
“If it wasn’t for the cuts, I felt Daniel would have gotten him out of there at some point,” Joshua said.
Dubois wore Hrgovic with his pressure, and it wasn’t as competitive after the fourth round. Hrgovic looked tired and beaten from the fifth round, and it was clear that Dubois was going to knock him out.
