‘I've been in the ring with Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois – I know who's winning'

Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois face off for the IBF heavyweight title this weekend, and one man who has faced both has predicted the outcome. Dorian Darch was the more seasoned contender when he squared off against AJ at Cardiff's Motorpoint Arena ten years ago.

With nine fights and a respectable 7-2 record to his name, Darch was a formidable opponent. Joshua, on the other hand, had only turned professional the previous year but had quickly made a name for himself in the heavyweight division with three TKO victories over Emanuele Leo, Paul Butlin, and Hrvoje Kisicek.

Joshua dominated the first round, landing a solid right hand on Darch as the bell signalled the end of the round. Despite being under heavy fire with his back against the ropes, the Welshman managed to survive until the second round thanks to the bell.

Smelling victory, it didn't take long for AJ to finish Darch in the second round. He landed a stiff right followed by a couple of powerful left hooks before referee Terry O'Connor called an end to the match, reports the Mirror. Meanwhile, Dubois had his own encounter with Darch three years later, meeting him in the ring in December 2017 at London's Copper Box Arena.

Darch, despite being more experienced on paper, found himself in a similar situation when he faced Dubois in the ring. With a record of 5-0 at the time, Dubois managed to stagger Darch with a powerful right punch just 30 seconds before the end of the first round.

Despite good clinch work from Darch, Dubois was able to knock him down moments later with another solid cross. Just ten seconds into the second round, Darch was hit with another strong right hand and sent tumbling towards the canvas, but he managed to continue fighting after making the referee's count. Dubois then landed a right hand and left hook combo that dropped Darch once again shortly after the fight resumed. Despite this, the warrior made the count and continued to fight.

However, the bout was ended by Dubois seconds later when he knocked Darch down with yet another right hand, leading the referee to call off the contest. Dubois is set to face Joshua for the IBF heavyweight title on Saturday night. Having fought both men, Darch has given his opinion on who he thinks will emerge victorious.

In a frank interview, the 40-year-old shared: "Dubois is just not as big or hits as hard as Joshua, in my opinion, but he was a better technical boxer. Standing next to Anthony Joshua he's massive but Dubois is not that much bigger than me. Dubois did hit hard, don't get me wrong, but he didn't have concussive power, in my opinion.

"AJ is more one-shot, lights out power; Dubois had me down three times, I had a cauliflower a*** by the end of it, but none of the punches would have made me stay down." He continued: "Dubois has come on leaps and bounds since the [Joe] Joyce fight, his character has been built up a lot better, I still don't think you can develop that power, but he was young when I fought him so you never know, he might have got more powerful.

"But at the time I fought them both, AJ punched a lot harder." Praising Dubois' technical improvements, Darch nevertheless predicts an AJ victory by knockout at Wembley. He continued: "Dubois, even though he's got tremendously better since he lost to Joyce, he just got caught far too much against [Filip] Hrgovic, and you can't get caught like that against AJ, it'll just be lights out.

"So, AJ knockout, in my opinion, I don't think it's going to points. I think it's got to be early to middle Joshua knockout, I reckon. Because I don't know if you watched Dubois' last fight to Hrgovic... in all fairness, he took the shots, but you can't take them shots against AJ. He took around seven to eight right hands and you just can't physically take them off AJ."

Joshua has held almost every title in the sport, including the WBC, Continental, British, IBF, IBO and WBA heavyweight titles at various points in his illustrious career. With a formidable record of 28-3, he is now setting his sights on current IBF title holder Dubois, who boasts an impressive record of 21-2.