This weekend, Wembley Stadium will play host to a third all-British heavyweight world title contest in as many years as Anthony Joshua seeks to become boxing’s fifth three-time champion of the division against newly crowned IBF title-holder Daniel Dubois. Ahead of the bout, Joshua’s long-term rival Tyson Fury has revealed that he believes Dubois will keep a hold of the belt and now ‘AJ’ has offered his response.
Both Joshua and Dubois are arguably in the form of their lives after they each registered back-to-back knockout victories to silence their respective doubters, although it is the latter who holds the coveted heavyweight IBF strap. ‘Triple D’ halted Jarrell Miller and Filip Hrgovic to prove that he is a worthy of a seat at the top table and was then upgraded from interim champion to full world champion after Oleksandr Usyk was stripped of the IBF trinket.
Meanwhile, there were plenty of calls for Joshua to walk away from the sport after he suffered a second defeat to Oleksandr Usyk in 2022 and also after his underwhelming victories against Jermaine Franklin and Robert Helenius. However, an unlikely move to work under Ben Davison has paid dividends and Joshua is once again considered as a top three heavyweight on the planet by most.
Whether the often discussed and critiqued chin of Joshua will hold up against the power of one of boxing’s strongest punchers remains as the key talking point ahead of Saturday night’s scrap, whilst others question if Dubois will melt under the pressure of the record-breaking attendance on the biggest of stages.
Yet, in an interview with Sky Sports, Dubois’ promoter Frank Warren remained confident that Dubois will make a successful first defence of his world title and revealed that Tyson Fury also believed the same.
“I spoke with him this morning … He said the same thing, he’s in the same frame of mind as I am about Daniel’s chances. He thinks Daniel’s gonna do the business, so that’ll be the unification next year.”
In response, Joshua appeared to care little about Fury’s thoughts and admitted to Boxing Social that the domestic dust-up is a 50/50 fight in his eyes.
“Yeah, he is a good fighter is Dubois, so it is a 50/50. I think that certain people are going to back him and some are going to back me and I can’t take anything from it. I have just got to focus on myself and prove myself right.”
Fight week for the event is well and truly underway and tonight fans will witness the beginning of the Joshua-Dubois undercard, despite the main-event being three days away. Cameron Vuong, Chris Kongo and Nathan Lugo will each appear on a three-fight bill at Wembley Arena following the open workouts for Saturday’s show – which will see a plethora of Britain’s most exciting fighters descend upon the national stadium in the hopes of showcasing their skills to a global audience before a salivating heavyweight battle ensues.
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