Anthony Joshua’s coach has come out after fans appeared to notice him mocking them and sticking his tongue out at the crowd immediately prior to being knocked out.
Footage has emerged which shows AJ appearing to mock fans in the fifth round, roughl 20 seconds before Daniel Dubois fired the shot that knocked him out.
Joshua’s coach, Ben Davison, has hit back at these claims though, clarifying what actually happened.
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Speaking at the post-fight press conference, Davison said: “I was asking for something from him and he sort of said ‘I’m OK’ and let me know he’s OK by actually talking in there.
“And then he came back before the last round and just said to me ‘These are the moments that we live for’ and talked about rolling the dice – and that’s what he did.'”
Unsurprisingly, this did not stop fans from mocking the Watford-born Heavyweight.
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One tweeted a picture of Joshua being punched in the face by in response to the video, saying: “Karma is a b!tch.”
Another said: “Oh dear, a dose of humble pie served up after that arrogance, the Universe works in beautiful ways to bring balance”.
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A third replied saying: “AJ thought he had him then booom”.
Joshua was knocked down multiple times in the fight, but had caught Dubois with a good shot that wobbled him in the fifth.
As he went in for the kill on Dubois though, the IBF World Heavyweight champion caught Joshua with a big right hand and knocked him out.
Reflecting on his own performance in his first interview after the fight, Joshua told 5 Live that ‘it just weren’t [his] night’.
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When asked about the improved fifth round prior to the knockout loss, he said: “Thing is, I wasn’t setting shots up.
"In a shoot-out like that, you really got to be a bit more sniper-esque.
“I caught him with a good shot I think and then I tried to go for it and then I got caught with an overhand right when I was throwing the uppercut.
“But when you’ve been hit a few times it’s survival, I’m in survival mode.
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"I just want to get him out of there. We had a shootout and he hit me.”
Topics: Anthony Joshua, Boxing, Ben Davison
The SPORTbible Team