Anthony Joshua Understands The Danger Daniel Dubois Poses

Anthony Joshua knows Daniel Dubois poses a real threat to him ahead of their bout on September 21.

Joshua is coming off a KO win over Francis Ngannou and he will return to the ring against Dubois for the IBF world heavyweight. Entering the bout, Joshua is the betting favorite, but Frank Warren says the Brit knows Dubois is a legit challenge.

“I do. [Joshua] knows it as well – don’t worry about that,” Warren told Queensberry (via BoxingScene). “Listen, he knows him. He’s sparred with him. There’s this big debate about what happened in that sparring, and I’ve heard two versions of it. One of the reasons we signed him and I sponsored him was because of what I was being told. And that was from people who were there.”

Daniel Dubois has won back-to-back fights as an underdog, but ahead of this bout, he has past training experience with Anthony Joshua. However, Warren doubts that will play any role to the boxing match.

“I understand that. That was then but how I look at it was that that was a 17-year-old kid in with a fella who was, what, 24 or 25? A gold medallist and whatever. He’s got stronger. He punches harder now. He’s matured. He seems mentally stronger. He’s a much more mentally strong guy,” Warren said. “I saw that in Hrgovic because he talked a lot about what he done to him. It wasn’t the case actually. They didn’t spar once, they sparred four or five times and it was very tough sparring for both of them.

“Hrgovic came out and looked very good early on in the fight, catching him with those right hands. He gritted his teeth and got back into it. He busted him up and I think it was at the end of the fifth round I thought he was about to stop him. He busted him up. He showed what he was all about. And he was an underdog then. He was an underdog against [Jarrell] Miller and he was an underdog against Usyk,” Warren added.

Anthony Joshua is 28-3 as a pro and riding a four-fight winning streak.