Daniel Dubois was ready to fight Anthony Joshua on the spot after their heated altercation during an interview with DAZN, host Ade Oladipo has revealed.
Oladipo was the man in the middle between Joshua and Dubois, who were alongside their respective promoters, Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren for a face-to-face interview to promote their September 21 world heavyweight title fight at Wembley Stadium.
‘AJ’ stepped towards his rival after he claimed he was ready to fight him on set, with security quickly intervening to separate the pair from coming to blows.
Despite filming being stopped abruptly, according to Oladipo, Dubois was still seething following the row.
“What the camera didn’t show, was how long it took Dubois to calm down after,” he told talkSPORT.
“He was ready to go.
“He was walking up and down, he was rolling his hands around.
“I looked at AJ and I was like, ‘Are you ok? Are you good?’
“AJ was sat down, a bit more calm and he was like ‘yeah I’m good.’
“I looked at Dubois and he wasn’t good.
“I’m telling you now, if there was no one holding him back, Dubois was ready to go.”
Dubois makes a first defence of his IBF heavyweight title in front of an expected 96,000 fans, which would break the previous attendance record of 94,000 set by Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte during their world title showdown in 2022.
The Londoner was elevated from interim titlist to full champion after Oleksandr Usyk relinquished the belt to pursue a rematch with Tyson Fury, which will take place on December 21 in Riyadh.
Joshua, who bids to become a three-time heavyweight world champion in his third appearance at Wembley Stadium, is the bookies’ favourite to defeat his compatriot a week on Saturday, although Oladipo feels the viral altercation has boosted the public perception of Dubois’ chances.
“I actually liked it, because it made me feel like, we’ve got a real fight our hands.
“For those who maybe thought, this is a walk in the park for AJ, I think that little 20 second thing there showed them that Dubois is coming to take AJ’s head off.”
