Anthony Joshua’s trainer has revealed several factors went awry in the lead-up to the British boxer’s showdown with Daniel Dubois.
Joshua was vying for his third heavyweight world championship title but suffered a crushing defeat. The 35 year old boxer was floored four times before being knocked out in the fifth round at Wembley Stadium. Joshua remains determined to reclaim his world champion status despite his fourth professional loss in September.
As he gears up for his return to the ring next year, trainer Ben Davison shed light on the reasons behind Joshua’s heartbreaking loss to Dubois. Speaking to talkSPORT, Davison revealed, “I know that among ourselves we know where some things went wrong.”
He further emphasized the importance of acknowledging their mistakes, stating, “It’s important for us that we don’t look like we are making excuses. But there are things that went wrong that we could have done a better job within and around. And closer to, the fight. You can’t point the blame, we’ve got to own it. We’ve got to wear it. And that’s what we’ve done.”
Meanwhile, in the wake of Tyson Fury’s defeat by Oleksandr Usyk, Turki Alalshikh has voiced his ambitions for the heavyweight boxing scene. Speaking to The Stomping Ground, he candidly offered his perspective on the match by stating: “I think he [Usyk] won, I counted and he had four rounds more. Tyson did everything, he had an amazing fight but this is boxing: there is a winner and a loser.”
Alalshikh didn’t stop there, revealing his eagerness for a potential rematch, saying: “Next, if Dubois wins in February, I want to see Usyk and Dubois again. And I want to see Tyson, maybe with [Anthony] Joshua or something, we will decide. Let’s see what can happen, everything in Riyadh Season is realistic…The most important thing is the fans enjoy it.”
With Alalshikh’s vision clear, it seems Eddie Hearn is on the same page regarding a Fury vs Joshua bout. After the Usyk vs Fury fray, Hearn shared with DAZN his sentiments: “I don’t think it’s time to start screaming, this night is Usyk vs Fury, but the reality is there’s only one fight for Tyson Fury and that’s Anthony Joshua,” asserting that it would stand as “It’s the biggest fight probably in the history of British boxing, everyone will always want to see it. And by the way, that wasn’t a Tyson Fury that looked finished, it wasn’t a flat performance, it wasn’t a poor performance, he didn’t look gun-shy, he didn’t look like his punch resistance was in question like we talked about earlier.”
He also dispelled any notion that Fury’s performance indicated any signs of decline, commenting that it was neither lacklustre nor indicative of declining resilience, as some speculated before. “I think Tyson Fury is still potentially at the peak of his powers, just not good enough to be Oleksandr Usyk tonight. But for me, AJ against Fury is the one, it’s the one at Wembley, I’m going to be pushing His Excellency [Turki Alalshikh] to make the fight, but that’s maybe one for another day, tonight belongs to Oleksandr Usyk. But Fury will struggle with this, I think. All fighters do, AJ struggled with the Dubois defeat as well, you’re a winner and when you get beat it hurts and this will hurt Fury.”
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