Anthony Joshua praised Daniel Dubois in an interview today, talking about how he got repeated chances after the loss.
A Sense of Elevation
One can see that Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) feels bigger than Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs) even though the tables have turned, with Daniel, the IBF heavyweight champion, and AJ, competing. in their main battle on September 21 at Wembley Stadium in London.
Dubois is the underdog in their fight, but many believe he will wear down Joshua, 34, and knock him out in the next rounds if he goes that far.
AJ’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, brought him back to the top with four carefully selected fighters after his second loss against Oleksandr Usyk on August 20, 2022.
Productive Success
Hearn compared Joshua against these four fighters to reconstruct him mentally:
– Francis Ngannou
– Otto Wallin
– Robert Helenius
– Jermaine Franklin
Joshua did not look good to Franklin and Helenius. However, AJ looked good in his last two fights against Wallin and Ngannou, but that was a downgrade in the tournament.
Hearn may have realized that Joshua needed less opposition to impress after struggling with Helenius and Franklin. So, he smartly chose rookie Francis Ngannou and 34-year-old Wallin to make Joshua look young.
“It’s going to be really hard work tonight. It’s just Daniel Dubois. I said at the press conference table. It could have been anyone,” said Anthony Joshua on DAZN Boxing’s YouTube channel. “Daniel worked hard to put it there, so be it.”
“Hard work at night” is poorly described by Joshua. There is a good chance he will lose to Dubois, which puts the 35-year-old Joshua in a difficult position where he has to decide whether to take the rematch or leave the loss behind to face Tyson Fury next.
An aging Joshua would try to avenge his loss, but he can’t because it’s now or never against Fury, who is showing signs of going over the hill at 36. If Joshua doesn’t fight Fury now, it might be too late. if he expects to be beaten again after his rematch with Usyk on December 21.
That one will likely end badly for Fury unless he can win a unanimous 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 into retirement.
“Are you surprised how quickly Dubois got there?” said Ade Oladipo about Dubois’ rush 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,” said Joshua about Dubois. “Someone believes in him, and he keeps finding opportunity after opportunity. It reminds me of Frank Bruno’s story. He got opportunity after opportunity to fight for the heavyweight championship of the world. Sooner or later, he got it.”
Joshua fails to mention that the fight between Dubois and Usyk on August 26, 2023 was controversial. He should have been knocked out in the fifth round after dropping him with a body shot that the referee said was a low blow. Replays showed that they were in the belt of Usyk’s ribs, which were pulled up to the side of his ribcage, almost the same size as Fury’s.
“He was a tough guy in Hrgovic’s fight. So, you’ve seen it up close. How impressed were you with that boy-on-boy performance, Hrgovic, everyone at the time was saying he was a top six or seven heavyweight heavyweight?” Ade said.
“I went to the fight and watched, and as you say, Hrgovic was a boogeyman. People respected him. He caught it well but it didn’t go well,” said Joshua. “There have been times in the fights when the situation was in favor of Daniel and then in favor of Hrgovic. I was thinking, ‘This is a good fight.’
“I saw that Daniel was starting to open up, and that depended on the situation. He was able to keep breaking through brick wall after brick wall. After a while, Hrgovic couldn’t handle brick wall after brick wall.
“If it wasn’t for the cuts, I felt like Daniel would have taken him out of there at some point,” Joshua said.
Dubois wore down Hrgovic with his pressure, and it wasn’t until after the fourth round. Hrgovic looked tired and battered from the fifth round on, and it was clear that Dubois was going to knock him out.
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