Anthony Joshua says British heavyweight rival Daniel Dubois “cracked” him but did not KO him in sparring a number of years ago as he vowed not to be “manhandled” in their September 21 fight.
Joshua and Dubois will meet at Wembley later this year, live on Sky Sport Box Office, for the IBF world heavyweight title, a belt recently vacated by Oleksandr Usyk with the Ukrainian’s rematch against Tyson Fury preventing him from facing mandatory challenger Dubois.
Joshua, a previous holder of the IBF belt, trained with Dubois when the latter was part of the Great Britain squad but says rumours he was floored by the Londoner were wide of the mark.
Joshua told Sky Sports: “I knew Daniel from the GB squad. I’d just turned professional but I stayed around the GB squad. I’d still train there, so we would spar. Good spars.
“This whole conversation that you’re trying to get at, he just cracked me with a good shot. But I stood on my feet.
“I don’t know where this whole narrative that someone turned my lights off came from. There was a lot of people that were in the gym that day. And they’ve come out and said nothing happened.”
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Sky Sports’ Johnny Nelson says Joshua’s fight against Dubois is a good clash of styles
‘I won’t let anyone manhandle me or try and knock me out!’
Joshua continued: “Look, people say what they say. And with me, there’s always been an inch that makes a mile, but it’s all good.
“I’m not saying he has the chance to do it on September 21, because sometimes what you speak comes into existence, but I won’t let it happen and I’ll show you how good I am.
“Whether it’s in the ring sparring or in the ring fighting, I won’t let anyone manhandle me or try and knock me out. No way.”
Dubois said he has no interest in the past, adding: “I don’t want to talk about no sparring or none of that. It happened seven years ago, and to be honest, I can’t remember that.
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Dubois is confident he has what it takes to defeat Anthony Joshua at Wembley later this year
“I’m not here to spar him, I’m here to fight him. So let’s keep it on the fight.
“What I will say is that it was great being up there and sharing that experience with these guys that were at the top of their game.
“Another thing, speaking of sparring, people have mentioned sparring me and they’ve come unstuck, so I don’t want any bad luck to follow me!”
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