By Declan Taylor
ANTHONY JOSHUA has revealed he only threatened to assault Daniel Dubois with a chair because of an altercation in the pub a week earlier.
Joshua and Dubois had been filming a sit-down interview along with their promoters Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren to publicise their September 21 clash at Wembley Stadium but it had to be cut short due to AJ’s threat.
Dubois said that they did not have to wait until fight night to ‘swing’ and Joshua did not take kindly to the suggestion. He said: “Relax. I’ll put this fucking chair across your face, don’t disrespect me.”
When both men stood up to confront each other, security was required to keep them apart and Warren instructed the camera crew to cut the filming.
It was a rare glimpse of Joshua’s overtly confrontational side and, when asked what had caused it, the two-time world heavyweight champion admitted the response had stemmed from an earlier incident.
“I’ll give you the gist behind it, right,” Joshua said. “I was in the pub the week before. Obviously I’m not around as much, there’s a new generation coming through. One little kid – well, I’m 35, he’s probably 30-something – thought he could say something.
“And I realised that’s disrespect. You can’t let anyone think they can speak to you in a certain way. Because at the pub, there’s other people who are looking at this person talking to me like that. Fuck boxing, you know who I am and you know what I’m about, so don’t ever think you can disrespect me – because it won’t end well for you.”So, we draw a line under that and then the week after, I’m doing a face-off and he tried to get mouthy. So, I’m still in the mindset where you don’t let anyone that they can take a mile.
“What happens if Jarrell Miller or Deontay Wilder starts thinking they can talk to me like that? So, Dan, I’m gonna put a stop to you there, and listen: I will smash this f***ing chair across your face, and I’ll ram the f***ing pole down your throat! You have to let someone know that you’re not f***ing about, and hopefully that will ripple out to everyone else.”
Despite that flashpoint, the pair have been respectful during a reasonably low-key fight week ahead of Saturday night’s encounter.
Joshua said: “I don’t want any problems, but I’m in an industry where I’m fighting; I’m not in goal, I’m not playing tennis, I’m in a sport with men with testosterone – gladiators that will take any opportunity to try to belittle you and test your toughness.
“It was calculated, it all stemmed from the incident before. It wasn’t sporadic. I just realised: you can’t let anyone get an upper hand on you. [In the pub] his mate tried to show him something, and he said: ‘I don’t give a f*** if AJ is here.’ I said: ‘What?! Don’t ever think you can talk like that.
“I’m a nice person, but honestly, I’ll switch as well. So, you pick what side of the fence you want to sit on. Most people are alright with me, but I will definitely go to extremes that I don’t think they’re ready for.
“I like Dan, there’s nothing wrong with him, he’s a good guy. Remember, we’re men, we’ll shake hands after. But I just think it was the fact that someone thought they were okay to say: ‘We can fight now’.”
London, UK: Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois Launch Press Conference ahead of their Heavyweight Contest on September 21 at Wembley Stadium.
26 June 2024. Picture By Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing.
Saturday night’s clash is Joshua’s fourth outing at Wembley Stadium, his third as a headliner, as well as pulling two bumper crowds at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium. It has been suggested that Joshua, therefore, will be better equipped to handle the occasion than Dubois, who has never boxed at Wembley but did fight Oleksandr Usyk outdoor in Wroclaw and also on the undercard at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in 2022.
But Joshua said: “I think he’s going to be fine, honestly. He’ll be fine. Look, you know what it is? You have no other choice but to rise to the occasion, unfortunately. You’ve come this far, he’s walked out at Tottenham, he’s walked out in Poland, he’ll walk out in Wembley.
“The thing is: once that first bell goes, you’re in the fight, and it doesn’t matter anymore about anything.”