Joshua threatened to hit Dubois with a chair during an intense face-off and footage of the moment has now been released ahead of their world title fight
Footage has been released of the moment Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois had to be separated during their intense face-off.
Joshua and Dubois went head-to-head for the first time on Wednesday afternoon ahead of their heavyweight world title fight on September 21. Dubois won the interim IBF belt when he stopped Filip Hrgovic on the Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk undercard and has since been upgraded to the full champion after Usyk vacated his world title earlier this week.
Things got heated between the domestic rivals whilst they were sat alongside their respective promoters Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren just moments before a press conference. “Honestly speaking from the bottom of my heart, aside from belts and aside from it being him, I’m just ready to fight,” Joshua said as Dubois then replied: “Let’s go, let’s go. If he wants to swing go, let’s go now.”
Joshua was visibly angered at his rival and said back: “Shut up. Relax, relax.” Dubois then asked: “Do you want to go now? Let’s go. Do you want to go now?” Joshua lost his cool and said: “Relax… [Do you want] this f****** chair across your face? Don’t disrespect me.” Dubois told ‘AJ’ he can’t intimidate him and the former two-time heavyweight world champion then stood up from the table.
“Don’t disrespect me on my life, little boy,” Joshua said as Dubois was being held back by security. “Dan, I don’t take disrespect lightly, you know? Don’t sit at the table telling me we can go now and do all of this and that, try and call me out,” he added. Dubois stared down ‘AJ’ as his promoter Warren called for a cut to the heated face-off.
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Joshua looks to become just the fifth three-time heavyweight world champion in history by taking Dubois’ belt away from him in his first defence. ‘AJ’ hasn’t competed in a world title fight since he failed to win back his unified heavyweight belts against Usyk in their rematch two years ago.
Dubois has turned his career around since losing to Usyk in their world title clash. The 26-year-old has faced questions about his resilience in the ring but silenced his doubters in his last two performances by showing impressive heart to KO Hrgovic and Joshua’s old rival Jarrell Miller.
