Joshua and Dubois has been simmering since the summer (Picture: Matchroom Boxing/Getty Images)
In his latest column, former Olympian and heavyweight contender Frazer Clarke reflects on his personal experience sparring Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois and picks his winner for Saturday night at Wembley…
Dubois has proven a lot of people wrong
Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois are two fighters I am very familiar with and I often get asked who hits harder out of the two.
It is a different type of punch. Joshua punches like a mule, there is no mistake about that. But Daniel is really heavy handed with a single heavy shot. With combination punches, AJ has the speed and the power advantage. But they are both huge punchers in different ways.
Daniel has had his heart questioned after those defeats to Joe Joyce and Oleksandr Usyk, especially with the former back in 2020. But it has been a great resurgence for Daniel. He has proven a few people wrong which you need to do in this sport. When you have people doubting you, it seems to bring the very best out of a lot of fighters. It worked for myself certainly and it has worked for Daniel.
There is no mistaking he is the underdog in this fight and that could be something that helps him through it. There are not many times in his career Daniel has been the underdog. He’s a fighter who have been promoted and moved very well.
The Joyce and Usyk losses were huge but he has been managed very well around them. ‘AJ’ is the favourite but if you are the man who beats Anthony Joshua, you become a household name, everything changes. He’ll be relishing it.
Dubois knocked out Miller in the final round on Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
We caught a glimpse of things kicking off between these two back in June – the time Dubois offered to ‘go right now’ with Joshua showing he was ready for that.
I don’t think Daniel was at home in that situation, he was acting on impulse. He wasn’t comfortable at all when he said ‘we can go right now’. That’s just not his style. But his team will be reminding him of the importance of that side of things and you can’t show any fear otherwise ‘AJ’ will kill you.
But in a nutshell, Daniel isn’t about that life. I don’t know him very well but I know him well enough to know that was a fish out of water situation.
Joshua aiming to take Dubois’ IBF title (Picture: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing/Getty Images)
I was there for the famous sparring story
I have done loads of rounds with both of them over the years. I did some rounds with Daniel a couple of weeks ago as well as part of my preparation for Fabio Wardley and his preparation for ‘AJ’.
I was there for the famous sparring story. I know exactly what happened. But I’m all for the codes. What happened in that gym needs to stay in that …read more
Source:: Metro
