‘Joshua behaved like one hypnotised before Dubois knockout’

Daniel Dubois ‘ trainer, Don Charles, has claimed that he noticed some questionable behaviours from Anthony Joshua as he was making his way to the ring ahead of the blockbuster heavyweight showdown on Saturday night, reports mirror.co.uk.

‘Triple D,’ who came into the contest as the IBF heavyweight champion, was a huge underdog against “AJ,” with many writing him off before the first bell sounded. But from the opening round, Dubois was quick to assert his dominance as Joshua was unable to deal with his opponent’s power and speed.

Just moments into the opening round, Dubois had sent Joshua tumbling, and it’d only get worse for the former heavyweight world champion. The Brit went on to drop Joshua four times in total before securing a sensational knockout in the fifth round to retain his coveted prize. That said, it appeared the Dubois corner was confident even before the two heavyweight stars touched gloves as Dubois’ cornerman, Don Charles saw patterns in Joshua’s entrance to the ring that had the rest of the team optimistic and confident.

“My duty and focus is on us, but I know Anthony Joshua very well,” Charles said during a recent appearance on talkSPORT’s Jim White & Simon Jordan. “But when I looked across the ring, I saw a man who looked like he was in a trance. He looked like he was in hypnosis like he had been hypnotised. I am experienced, I can pick up on things.

“I thought ‘we’d got you’ because I didn’t recognise the person I know. He was under hypnosis. They said Daniel was going to get stage fright, but he looked like a man who was in a state of shock. He was like ‘Oh my God this is real now’, he could also feel the energy from the opposition.”

Jordan, who was in attendance at Wembley, claimed that the crowd caused Joshua a few problems: “I never got any sense that Dubois would freeze in this fight at all. I felt that Joshua was susceptible to what would happen to him. He seemed to be in a completely different space. The reason there were 96,000 people in there was for him but there was enormous pressure and he didn’t need that. He didn’t look prepared for it; he looked haunted by it. Dubois came in and looked prepared to fight like a hunter.

“I didn’t like the homecoming for Anthony Joshua, it was all done to anoint Anthony Joshua and that is why the air came out of the room when he was dropped.”

The next blockbuster fight in the heavyweight division Oleksandr Usyk’s clash against Tyson Fury in December and both had ringside seats and witnessed ‘Dynamite’s’ stunning victory over the weekend, with Dubois likely waiting for the winner. As for Joshua, his future remains up in the air after suffering the fourth defeat of his professional career.