Anthony Joshua gives his side of Daniel Dubois sparring story in which eye-witness claimed he was left on 'jelly legs'

12/09/2024 13:16

Anthony Joshua has provided his first-hand account of the famous sparring session with Daniel Dubois.

In 2017, when Dubois turned over as a professional, rumours began to swirl around boxing circles that Dubois had either dropped or knocked out Joshua in sparring a year prior.

His promoter Frank Warren proudly exclaimed that his new signing had iced Joshua when they shared the ring together at the GB Performance Institute in Sheffield, while Dubois was a fresh-faced 18-year-old.

Joshua has remained silent on the topic for several years.

But during an interview with Sky Sports ahead of his upcoming clash with Dubois on September 21, the Watford powerhouse gave his side of the story.

“He just cracked me with a good shot. I stood on my feet,” he said.

“I don’t know where this whole narrative of someone turned my lights off came from.

“There were a lot of people in the gym that day as well.

“And people have come out and said, ‘Nah, nothing [happened]’.

“But anyway, people say what they say. With me, there’s always been like an inch that makes a mile. But it’s all good. It’s all good.”

While Joshua insists ‘nothing happened’, Anthony Fowler – who was on the Team GB squad at the time and claims to have witnessed the spar from ringside – recently told talkSPORT.com that Dubois turned AJ’s legs to jelly.

He said: “They were just sparring normally. Dubois was really young so he wasn’t really trying to win the rounds.

“I wouldn’t say he was in survival mode but he wouldn’t take many risks.

“He was very cagey sparring Joshua. Obviously, Joshua was the main man on the team so he was always quite wary, but he always punched really hard.

“I remember he hit Frazer Clarke so hard that he snapped his ankle.

“He fell to the floor and snapped his ankle. After that, he was walking around with a cast so he’s always had that real power Dubois.

“Joshua must have been a little clumsy sparring him and he got caught with a short left hook and Joshua’s legs completely went.

“Dubois could have hit him again and put him to sleep but Dubois had a bit too much respect for him to finish him off.

“Obviously, everyone was stood there like ‘Wow’ and Joshua went and jogged around the ring because his legs were like jelly and he was trying to get his legs back.

“And everyone was going ‘Wait, wait, wait’. Joshua wanted to carry on but Rob McCracken was like ‘Have a little break, get your legs back to normal, and then spar’ and then they continued sparring.

“He didn’t knock him out, he didn’t hit the floor but he was really, really hurt.

“Dubois probably could have hit him again and knocked him out but he chose not to out of respect.