According to a former stablemate, Anthony Joshua was out on his feet in a sparring session with forthcoming opponent Daniel Dubois.
Joshua was saved from being put to sleep by Dubois, who refused to carry on when hurting his compatriot in the training session. Anthony Fowler, once a GB teammate of Joshua’s, revealed the situation as he saw it.
“Joshua got caught with a short left hook. His legs completely went,” Fowler told talkSPORT. “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.
“Joshua’s legs were like jelly. He wanted to carry on, but Rob McCracken [former AJ coach] was like, ‘Have a little break, get your legs back to normal,’ then they continued. Dubois probably could have hit him again and knocked him out, but he chose not to because of respect.”
Promoter Eddie Hearn has since denied the occurrence in an interview with IFL TV.
“What I heard and what everyone was telling everyone was that AJ got carried out of the ring unconscious,” Hearn told the YouTuber outfit. “That’s changed quite a lot to ‘he got buzzed by a shot, was out on his feet, but they carried on sparring.’
“You do know that if you get hurt in sparring, the sparring stops. So he got hit by a left hook apparently, then [Anthony] Fowler says he had a little walk, and then they carried on. I don’t know what happened during the spar, but both guys are massive punchers. The only thing I heard was that AJ got knocked out cold, and obviously, we knew that wasn’t the case at all.”
Dubois will aim to put Joshua to sleep for real at Wembley Stadium on September 21 as ‘DDD’ defends his IBF heavyweight title for the first time.
However, if Joshua can turn the tables and relieve Dubois of Usyk’s title, the Londoner could become a three-time heavyweight champion by picking up his second vacated belt.
Read all articles and exclusive interviews by Phil Jay. Learn more about the author, experienced boxing writer, and World Boxing News Editor since 2010. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.
