Anthony Joshua Rematch: A J’s trainer Ben Davison has opened up on the former heavyweight champion’s defeat to Daniel Dubois.
Anthony Joshua: A J’s coach, Ben Davison, has revealed that the British heavyweight was significantly delayed arriving at Wembley Stadium for his bout with Daniel Dubois last September.
Joshua, who had been on a winning streak with victories over fighters like Francis Ngannou and Otto Wallin, failed to secure a third heavyweight championship title after being defeated by Dubois.
Despite being the strong favourite, Joshua was knocked down several times and, ultimately, stopped in the fifth round. While an immediate rematch seemed on the cards, injuries sustained during the fight led Joshua to take a break from boxing.
In the aftermath of the fight, many questioned what went wrong for Joshua. Speaking to talkSPORT, Davison shed light on less than ideal preparations, stating: “This isn’t an excuse, as he’s never mentioned it and it’s not the reason we lost,” but revealed: “He was very, very late arriving to the dressing room before the fight owing to unforeseen circumstances. It was a major rush, which wasn’t ideal. Maybe that had an impact on his ring walk, I can’t say yes or no.
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“Again it’s not an excuse, but if what you guys were seeing is true, maybe the fact he was late then that didn’t help. The fights before we had an extremely long warm-up, this time it was the complete opposite. But this time it was a big rush, although it wasn’t why he lost.”
AJ is eyeing a return to the ring by year-end following elbow surgery. Eddie Hearn has suggested that Joshua could be back between October and December, with the fighter still keen on a British heavyweight clash with Tyson Fury, amidst speculation of Fury’s comeback.
Hearn remains optimistic about Fury coming out of retirement for a bout with Joshua. Speaking with DAZN, the boxing promoter said: “It’s probably three fights away.
“For me, if I’m advising AJ, we’re back this year, we have two Tyson Fury fights – what else is there to do? Maybe fight a Daniel Dubois, but for me once AJ fights Tyson Fury, he’s kind of done it all.
“I’d love him to have another crack at Daniel Dubois and I’d love him to have another crack at [Oleksandr] Usyk but you just keep going on and on and on. Now, if we get to next year and he’s still firing on all cylinders then 2026 won’t be his last year. But for me, something feels right about coming back this year, beating Tyson Fury twice and then sailing off into the sunset.”
