Anthony Joshua Offered Huge Heavyweight Fight If Daniel Dubois Rejects Rematch: “I’ll Sign Now

For many years, Anthony Joshua sat at the very top of the tree in the heavyweight division.

After winning his first world title by taking the IBF belt from Charles Martin, he continued to beat all comers including the likes of Joseph Parker and Wladimir Klitschko on his way to becoming the unified champion.

A first hiccup came in June 2019 when he was upset by late stand in Andy Ruiz Jr on his US debut at Madison Square Garden, but ‘AJ’ avenged that loss with a clear points win in Saudi Arabia in December of the same year.

Following a win over Kubrat Pulev, the two-time world champion then went into back-to-back fights with Oleksandr Usyk in 2021 and 2022. He lost his belts in the first one after 12 hard-fought rounds and failed to win them back in the rematch. Usyk has since gone on to become undisputed champion after beating Tyson Fury in May.

READ MORE:Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois sell out Wembley Stadium for all-British world title clash

Last time out in September, Joshua was knocked down multiple times in his attempt to become a three-time champion, ending in a fifth-round stoppage loss to the IBF champion Daniel Dubois.

He is thought to want a rematch as a way back in to the world title picture but has now been called out by Zhilei Zhang, who told Boxing news he is ready to go and avenge the loss he suffered to Joshua in the 2012 Olympics.

“Eddie is calling the shots right now. Let’s say Eddie sends me the contract tomorrow, I’ll sign it tomorrow. I’m very interested, I want to get that London Olympic loss back.”

Zhang has recently stopped the likes of Deontay Wilder and Joe Joyce but fallen short to Parker over the distance. He is keen on avenging that loss, but would likely skip it for a long-awaited shot at Joshua – perhaps finally getting his wish of a fight at Beijing’s National Stadium, The Bird’s Nest.

Whether or not the Brit’s team feel the Chinese southpaw is worth the risk over a Dubois rematch for the title at this stage of his career remains to be seen.

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Anthony Joshua gives his side of Daniel Dubois sparring story in which eye-witness claimed he was left on ‘jelly legs’

Anthony Joshua has provided his first-hand account of the famous sparring session with Daniel Dubois.

In 2017, when Dubois turned over as a professional, rumours began to swirl around boxing circles that Dubois had either dropped or knocked out Joshua in sparring a year prior.

Joshua and Dubois have sparred several times, now they duke it out for real on September 21

His promoter Frank Warren proudly exclaimed that his new signing had iced Joshua when they shared the ring together at the GB Performance Institute in Sheffield, while Dubois was a fresh-faced 18-year-old.

Joshua has remained silent on the topic for several years.

But during an interview with Sky Sports ahead of his upcoming clash with Dubois on September 21, the Watford powerhouse gave his side of the story.

“He just cracked me with a good shot. I stood on my feet,” he said.

“I don’t know where this whole narrative of someone turned my lights off came from.

“There were a lot of people in the gym that day as well.

“And people have come out and said, ‘Nah, nothing [happened]’.

“But anyway, people say what they say. With me, there’s always been like an inch that makes a mile. But it’s all good. It’s all good.”

While Joshua insists ‘nothing happened’, Anthony Fowler – who was on the Team GB squad at the time and claims to have witnessed the spar from ringside – recently told talkSPORT.com that Dubois turned AJ’s legs to jelly.

READ MORE:Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois sell out Wembley Stadium for all-British world title clash

He said: “They were just sparring normally. Dubois was really young so he wasn’t really trying to win the rounds.

Fowler claims Dubois could have knocked out Joshua but didn’t out of respect

“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.

“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.

“And 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.

“Dubois probably could have hit him again and knocked him out but he chose not to out of respect.