ANTHONY JOSHUA’s legs turned to “jelly” during his infamous sparring session with Daniel Dubois, it’s been claimed.
The build-up to the pair’s blockbuster domestic dust-up at Wembley later this month has been dominated by talk of the pair’s 2016 spar at the GB Performance Institute.
Neither man has addressed the rumours surrounding their spar, with their respective silences further fuelling rumours that AJ was dropped by Dubois.
One man who saw the spar first-hand is former Team GB boxer Anthony Fowler, who claims Dubois put AJ on rollerskates with a sneaky short left hook.
“They were just sparring normally,” Fowler told talkSPORT when asked to recall the spar. “Dubois was really young so he wasn’t really trying to win the rounds.
“I wouldn’t say he was in survival mode but he wouldn’t take many risks.
“He was very cagey sparring Joshua. Obviously, Joshua was the main man on the team so he was always quite wary, but he always punched really hard.
“I remember he hit Frazer Clarke so hard that he snapped his ankle.
“He fell to the floor and snapped his ankle. After that, he was walking around with a cast so he’s always had that real power Dubois.
“Joshua must have been a little clumsy sparring him and he got caught with a short left hook and Joshua’s legs completely went.
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“Dubois could have hit him again and put him to sleep but Dubois had a bit too much respect for him to finish him off.
“Obviously, everyone was stood there like ‘wow’ and Joshua went and jogged around the ring because his legs were like jelly and he was trying to get his legs back.”
Joshua, according to Fowler, was told by his now-former coach Robert McCracken to take a break after having his bell rung.
The 2016 Olympian said: “Everyone was going ‘wait, wait, wait’.
“Joshua wanted to carry on but Rob McCracken was like ‘have a little break, get your legs back to normal, and then spar.’
“And then they continued sparring. He didn’t knock him out, he didn’t hit the floor but he was really, really hurt.”
Fowler believes Dubois, who at the time was a fresh-faced 18-year-old, could have turned Joshua’s lights out had he landed another blow.
He continued: “Dubois probably could have hit him again and knocked him out but he chose not to out of respect.”
Defending IBF champion Dubois won’t be pulling any punches when he squares off with Joshua in front of 96,000 fans at the home of English football.
He said: “AJ’s been the king for a long time and on the night, I need to become a king slayer.
“And that’s my goal, that’s the mission at hand.
“I’m learning more about myself as a fighter, as a person, coming out of the darkness and into the light, improving all around as a fighter and as an athlete.
“I’m up for this and ready to go.”
