Frank Warren has cautioned that Anthony Joshua may become sidetracked by the presence of two celebrities at ringside for Saturday’s Wembley heavyweight title fight. In his quest to become a three-time world heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua will take on fellow Brit Daniel Dubois, who is making his maiden defense of the IBF title belt.
The two London-born fighters will square off in front of a sell-out crowd of 96,000 spectators in their debut fight. Joshua is the slight favorite to win. Joshua weighed in 4 pounds heavier than Dubois on Friday, but they both entered the fight nearly same to how they had been in their previous bouts.
When Anthony Joshua takes on Daniel Dubois on Saturday, he thinks he will win.
The winner of the competition this weekend is anticipated to face the winner of Alexander Usyk’s rematch with Tyson Fury, and Anthony Joshua has been cautioned not to let the prospect of a heavyweight unification showdown derail him.
Joshua and Dubois faced off for the final time as they weighed in on Friday evening
Joshua has been cautioned by Dubois’ promoter Frank Warren (above) not to go sidetracked at Wembley.
The world champion Joshua was dethroned by Ukrainian sensation Usyk twice earlier in the fight, and a potential megafight between rival Fury and Britain has also been suggested. The promoter of Dubois and Fury, Warren, thinks that Joshua, who has had a comeback after losing to the Ukrainian, would be distracted by Usyk and Fury’s presence at Wembley.
‘Usyk will be there, as will be Tyson, but I don’t think it’s anything for [Dubois]. It could be a distraction for AJ as he has beaten AJ twice,’ Warren told Sky Sports.
‘Usyk is the man at the moment, he’s the guy who is top of the tree, and these two are trying to get the winner of the rematch between Tyson and Usyk.
‘They know how important this fight is, and as I say, I believe the winner of this will fight the winner of the fight in December.
Dubois previously lost to Usyk last year, but argued at the time that he should have won the fight after knocking down his opponent only for the decision to be chalked off as a controversial low blow.
However, Warren believes the 27-year-old is now ready to fight Usyk again, adding: ‘He’s ready to fight Usyk again, I really do believe that.
Tyson Fury will be ringside at the 96,000 sell-out Wembley heavyweight clash
Oleksandr Usyk, the current heavyweight champion, has also traveled to attend the fight.
“I genuinely think he’s ready, having shared the ring with him after the fight, knowing what went wrong the last time.”
Warren continued, saying, “It’s a massive fight and we will see fireworks tomorrow,” following the weigh-in on Friday night.
“He’s a young man; [Dubois] turned 27 a few weeks ago, and he just had some really big victories.” He’s never seemed so assured to me. You’re going to see something amazing tomorrow.
“You’re going to witness something really unique as these two guys launch bombs at each other.”