Joshua will not be affected by Dubois’ mind games and will outbox him, according to Ricky Hatton
Hall of Fame boxer Ricky Hatton has shared his expert insight into the tasty heavyweight clash between two-time world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (28-3, 25KO) and newly instated IBF World heavyweight titlist Daniel Dubois (21-2, 20KO).
The British heavyweights are set to lock horns at Wembley Stadium on September 21, with AJ already the overwhelming bookies favourite despite Dubois being the defending champion, with a couple of highly impressive wins behind him, having knocked out both Jarrell Miller in Filip Hrgovic over the last seven months.
Joshua is also in-form right now, having won four in a row over the past two years, after back to back defeats to now undisputed heavyweight king Oleksandr Usyk.
Speaking to Prime Casino, Hatton shared his thoughts on the mega-fight, beginning with the infamous sparring session where Dubois was able to floor AJ when he was just a teenager, “It’s all a mind game, you’d have to have been there at the time to see how heavy the knockdown was. It could have been a slip or it could have been a full-blown knockdown and he was shaken up. If it was that, I think it would leave a little bit of a mark, definitely.
“But we’ve all been put down in sparring, we’ve all been shook up a bit. That’s part and parcel boxing but it might leave a mark. If it was me then I would think ‘I’m going to get my own back on you’. That’s my attitude. There will be some people who will be thinking s*** this guy knocked me down before, but I don’t think AJ falls into that bracket. He’s an Olympic gold medalist and he’s been a unified world champion. I don’t think a knockdown would have damaged him too much.”
The 45-year-old Hatton then moved on to discuss the upcoming post-summer showdown, “I think AJ beats Daniel, he’s bigger than Daniel for a start and that’s saying something because Daniel is a beast of a fighter. But AJ’s got his confidence back now. You can also say that about Daniel after his last couple of fights.
“It’s the perfect time for this fight, both of them are in great form, I think AJ’s got a little bit more in his armoury, he’s got a little bit more boxing ability and he seems to be much more looser under Ben Davidson, he’s throwing his punches with a lot more snap these days.
“Having said that, Daniel only needs one punch. It’s one of those fights where if Daniel landed and knocked AJ out it wouldn’t surprise me, but AJ could outbox Daniel early and then knock him out and I think that’s where my money would go,” Hatton concluded.