David Haye has launched a passionate defence of Anthony Joshua and blasted critics of the boxing star as he prepares to face Daniel Dubois on Saturday.
AJ will go into the clash on a high, with the 34-year-old winning all four of his last bouts.
Joshua was condemned by many and written off as he lost to Oleksandr Usyk for a second time in 2022.
However, he’s been in resurgent form in the past 12 months or so – claiming scalps against Jermaine Franklin Jr, Otto Wallin, Robert Helenius and Francis Ngannou.
David Haye has launched a passionate defence of Anthony Joshua and blasted critics of the boxing star as he prepares to face Daniel Dubois on Saturday.
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Haye, speaking to William Hill, has now shut down the notion that Joshua was ever ‘finished’.
And he also insisted that the ‘new’ version of the Watford-born star would beat the ‘old’ one hands down.
“I never thought Anthony Joshua was finished,” said the former boxing star. “Some people just need to learn from getting it wrong – not everyone is like Oleksandr Usyk who gets it right every time.
“AJ is a much better fighter now having lost those two fights than he would’ve been if he’d won – he’s learnt from his mistakes.
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“The new Anthony Joshua would smoke the old Anthony Joshua in one round, plain and simple.
“Everything is strategised and sequenced now, and that’s the Ben Davison effect. He’s starting to understand his strengths and implement them.
“Stylistically and technically, Joshua is superior but, up until he started working with Ben Davison, he didn’t mould his style around his strengths.
“He’s now got some pre-determined punch sequences that are absolutely devastating, he just waits for the right time until he needs to pull the trigger – then people go to sleep.”
It certainly has the makings of a classic.
Joshua is the favourite, especially given his form ever since his defeat to Usyk in 2022.
Dubois, however, is out to claim his mantle as the poster boy of British boxing.
The 27-year-old is confident he’ll be able to spring a suprise – and also thinks his opponent is ‘there for the taking’.
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Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois will fight at Wembley on Saturday night
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“I need to take him back to that dark place and make him uncomfortable in there, make him break down in the ring,” he said at a press conference on Thursday.
“That’s what I plan to do. He’s right for the taking now.
“I’m on the rise, I’ve got the momentum on my side. No more words – just fighting, punches. I’m ready to fight and destroy. Destroy.”
Joshua, meanwhile, has vowed to push on a show for fans at Wembley – as well as those watching on from home.
Anthony Joshua is in the form of his life as he prepares to fight Daniel Dubois
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“The thing is with our sport, in a gladiatorial and historical fashion, if you get in the ring and I make it boring, no-one is going to want to see that, unfortunately,” he said.
“So I owe it to the paying public to go out as a fighter.
“To go out there as a fighter, gladiator, warrior and demonstrate my ability that I can decapitate my opponent.
“That is why people tune in, because I try, and I’m going to keep trying.”