Anthony Joshua vs Daniel Dubois: What happened in sparring and what does it mean for the fight? | Boxing News

“I could say a lot, but I won’t…” What happened when Anthony Joshua fought Daniel Dubois?

Joshua and Dubois will face each other seriously on Saturday in front of more than 90,000 spectators at Wembley Stadium, live on Sky Sports Box Office.

But the “Riyadh Season: Joshua vs. Dubois” event will not be the first time they have clashed.

The two sparred when Dubois was a teenager breaking into the British team and Joshua, an Olympic gold medalist and top professional, was training at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.

Especially when Dubois was preparing for his professional debut, rumors started to circulate in the gym that something had happened during sparring with Joshua. That Dubois had managed to shake Joshua or even knock him to the ground.

Joe Joyce and Frazer Clarke were two of Joshua's most frequent sparring partners at the time when they were still British super heavyweights.

However, neither of them wanted to answer the question whether Dubois was as successful against AJ.

“I'm not going to reveal that. We'll have to wait and see. I don't like it when people start doing that. It's a practice and it should remain private. It's a code of honor to break that,” Joyce said. Sky Sports.

“Sparring is sparring. A fight is a fight. That was a long time ago. They've both made great progress since then. They've had different paths and experiences, surprises and things like that.”

Frazer said: “I could say a lot but I won't. Always a competitive sparring match. AJ was always a little bit ahead but I think Daniel has closed the gap.”

An incident could have happened during sparring. Romford heavyweight Johnny Fisher knows first-hand how effective Dubois can be in the gym. “I imagine there were some firefights there because we know how strong Joshua is and Dubois certainly brings the heat,” he said Sky Sports.

“I've heard the rumors like everyone else. But sparring is sparring. I know it's a cliche, it's been said a thousand times, but sometimes you go into a sparring and the coach tells you to work on these certain things or you trained really hard the day before or you're fresher. You can read too much into sparring.”

WBA No. 1 contender Martin Bakole, who has fought both Joshua and Dubois, agreed. “Anything can happen in sparring,” he said. “When you fight Tyson Fury or Joshua, you are not alone, maybe two or three people [in the session] So they fight against different guys.

“If he was with someone like me and I was giving him a hard time and you were just coming in, you could land a beautiful punch. It can happen to anyone.”

Nevertheless, Bakole made a scathing criticism of Dubois before the fight against Joshua.

“He doesn't have the heart, that's a big problem,” Bakole said of Dubois. “He's big, strong and comes to fight, but he doesn't have the heart. As soon as you move a lot, touch him a lot, he gives up. When you see Dubois go on the defensive, you have to understand he's out.”

Before Saturday's fight, not even Dubois tried to feed the rumor mill any more stories.

Dubois said: “I don't want to talk about no sparring or anything like that. It happened seven years ago and to be honest I don't remember it.”

We know he landed at least one significant punch. Joshua himself said: “He just caught me with a good punch. But I stayed on my feet.”

“I don't know where this whole story came from that someone turned off my light.

“People say what they say. And with me it was always like this: every inch is the same size, but it's all good.”

Looking at one incident in isolation is less revealing than considering what their sparring as a whole means for their upcoming fight. The signs all promise excitement.

“I saw them sparring a lot in Sheffield,” said London super lightweight Ohara Davies Sky Sports. “Daniel knows AJ from his experiences sparring with him and their sparring matches were always evenly matched.

“I never saw AJ get knocked down or hurt, and I never saw Daniel Dubois get knocked down or hurt.

“Perhaps [AJ] I did, but not when I was there. I never saw anything like it. And even when I was there, I never heard anything like it.”

But he added: “Especially without head protection and with smaller gloves, we have a tough fight ahead of us.”

Paul Walmsley, a former GB coach who was present at much of the sparring, believes this is an indication of how the fight itself will turn out.

“From what I remember, Joshua had the upper hand,” Walmsley said. “He had been on the team longer, he was more mobile and kept Daniel at a distance. All the sparring matches seemed to follow a similar pattern. Daniel was a little off-guard. I've noticed he moves a lot more now, but back then he was a little more off-guard. Joshua was able to get in and out of there and get around him pretty easily.”

Josh Kelly, who will face Ishmael Davis in the Wembley Stadium support act, was a British boxer at the time and always enjoyed watching the two fight.

“I think Joshua has the advantage of size and length. That straight one-two and left hook backhand are fast and hard,” he said Sky Sports.

“If Daniel could move his head a little more, he could get past him, but I don't know if he can do it.

“If Dubois can close the distance, get off the line and land a right hand and try to take him down with the jab, that could change things.

“The strength of these guys is just different. “These guys are just built differently. So anyone can get knocked out in sparring.”

“I'm sitting here with my popcorn thinking one of these guys is about to leave.”

Not that he actually experienced it. “There was [rumours] but I never saw it,” he said. “Sparring is sparring. When you're a heavyweight, anyone can go down. They hit everyone like absolute monsters.”

However, he expects there to be a knockout on Saturday. “It can't go the whole distance,” he said simply.

“This cannot last for a long time.”

Anthony Joshua’s heavyweight showdown with Daniel Dubois will take place on Saturday, September 21st live on Sky Sports Box Office. Book Joshua v Dubois now!