Anthony Joshua Criticizes Tyson Fury for Borrowing from Daniel Dubois’ Success
Anthony Joshua has publicly criticized Tyson Fury for drawing inspiration from Daniel Dubois’s performance against him, as the former world heavyweight champions prepare to face each other later this year. The bout between the 36-year-old Joshua and the 37-year-old Fury is set for an unspecified date, but first, Joshua must overcome Kristian Prenga on 25 July in Saudi Arabia.
Ahead of his fight with Prenga, Joshua participated in a press conference in London alongside his Albanian opponent. However, before the event, he spoke to various outlets about several topics, including Fury’s recent comments regarding Dubois’s victory over him in 2024.
Fury made remarks last month, stating that Dubois had successfully defeated several opponents without knocking them out. He noted that Dubois hit Oleksandr Usyk with powerful punches but failed to put him down. Then, Fury said, “He fights Anthony Joshua and pummels him, puts him to the floor five times.”
In reality, Dubois dropped Joshua four times during their bout, while AJ was ruled to have slipped in a separate moment. Regardless, Fury continued, saying, “I’m not saying Anthony Joshua’s chinless, but they’re the facts. Take it as you wish and as you will. Everybody else never went over, not a singular person – Big Baby Miller, Hrgovic, Usyk or Wardley, but Joshua goes down five times. Chinny, get up!”
Joshua responded by stating that as a leader, one should not ride on the success of another. He said, “I just felt like, as a boss, you can’t ride the next man’s success. It’s Dubois’s success. How are you sitting there thinking that, because Dubois had success, ‘Yeah, that’s what part of what I’m doing’?”
He added, “It shows the type of mentality that he has. That’s not a boss; a boss is gonna create his own lane and talk about what he’s done and what he’s achieved.”
Joshua also referenced Fury’s 2023 bout with Francis Ngannou, a mixed-martial-arts champion who had never boxed professionally before challenging Fury. Although Ngannou dropped the Briton, he ultimately lost on points and was later knocked out by Joshua in 2024. In 2024, Fury also lost twice to Usyk on points, similar to Joshua’s losses in 2021 and 2022.
Joshua has been training with Usyk in Ukraine recently. When asked if he had learned any tricks from Usyk on how to beat Fury, he replied, “I’ve fought Alex, and he didn’t need to do that with me. What I’m saying is, what Alex does to Fury… we’re all different characters.”
He added, “Maybe [I’d ask about those things], but… I know he read Fury’s book before he fought him, and you learn a lot about someone when you get to understand their psyche.”
“So yeah, I will definitely look at Fury’s psyche, but my true battle is in the ring – it’s not in a press conference. Yeah, I will [buy his book]. I’ll get someone to nick it!” Joshua laughed.
Fury is preparing for his own warm-up fight ahead of his clash with Joshua. He has expressed interest in boxing in Dublin on 1 August. His last fight was in April, where he outpointed Arslanbek Makhmudov in Tottenham, with Joshua watching from ringside.
Meanwhile, Joshua’s last fight was a December stoppage of Jake Paul in six rounds. Ten days later, he survived a car crash in Nigeria, which claimed the lives of his teammates Sina Ghami and Latif “Latz” Ayodele.
