'The boy can fight' – Anthony Joshua responds to claims Daniel Dubois knocked him out in sparring

26/06/2024 20:17

Anthony Joshua has opened up on his infamous sparring session with Daniel Dubois.

Dubois made headlines in 2017 when rumours came to light of AJ being knocked out at the GB Performance Institute by the young British heavyweight.

Frank Warren told the story to the press after Dubois turned over as a pro with him in 2017.

“I first heard about Dynamite when I was told an 18-year-old lad had knocked out Anthony Joshua,” Warren wrote in his exclusive column with talkSPORT.

“This was in 2016, the same year AJ became a heavyweight world champion. Dubois was a boy and he knocked out a man in Joshua – a six-foot-six man at that!”

Ahead of their September 21 showdown at Wembley Stadium, the sparring stories have become a big talking point once again, although Joshua insists there is no substance to them.

“He hit me so hard I went to the moon and came back,” Joshua sarcastically remarked in an interview with Box Nation.

“A lot of people around that time were talking about how they did this and that to AJ in sparring, none of it is true.

“[They were] good [spars]. The boy can fight, I told you the boy can fight. That’s why I can’t underestimate him because he is a serious competitor.”

Dubois ran with the story that he floored Joshua during the early stages of his career.

But when he was asked about it by talkSPORT.com before his most recent outing with Filip Hrgovic, Dubois was far more coy on the topic.

“That’s the past now, we’ll leave that in the past. But we can bring it up again [if I fight Joshua],” he said.

The same year that the infamous Joshua-Dubois spar took place, AJ won the IBF heavyweight title from Charles Martin.

Now, eight years on, he has the opportunity to reclaim the IBF strap against Dubois.

‘Triple D’ was upgraded from interim to full champion after Oleksandr Usyk vacated the title on Tuesday night.

Usyk unified all four major sanctioning body belts in May by beating Tyson Fury via split decision but didn’t remain undisputed champion for long.

The IBF ordered Usyk to defend their version of the world title against Dubois but he will instead face Fury in a rematch on December 21 with the WBC, WBA, and WBO belts on the line.