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Tony Bellew has explained the mistake Anthony Joshua made leading up to his damaging knockout defeat to Daniel Dubois, revealing what he would've said to him had he been in his corner.
Joshua suffered a crushing fifth-round defeat to Dubois in last weekend's Riyadh Season card at Wembley Stadium.
'AJ' was aiming to become a three-time world champion but succumbed to his fellow Brit's power.
The corner advice he received from head trainer Ben Davison has been the subject of intense scrutiny as fans spotted what the star fighter said in between rounds four and five.
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Analysing the corner advice, Bellew highlighted the 'disaster' that occurred as he explained what he would have said to Joshua.
"Usually, I've got my ears in and I'm listening, but on Saturday I was screaming for Joshua to urge him to forward, to let his hands go. I couldn't hear the advice being given by Ben Davison. I do like how Ben Davison acts in the corner, he's usually very calm. There's no panic, there's no real worry," he told SPORTbible in conjunction with Instant Casino.
"But on Saturday night, Joshua needed something different and the last bit of advice in the world he needed was 'head in for the uppercut with your lead arm low'.
"That is just a disaster waiting to happen. Everyone in boxing knows that. And Ben knows that. I don't know if he’s been caught up in the moment, has he thought this was going to go a different way, I don't know. It was quite crazy. I heard people saying it, but I didn't believe it because I can't believe anyone would lead a fighter when he’s been down, in for that lead uppercut with the left hand low.
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"That is just a big no-no. That's amateur level boxing. You’re making those mistakes during your first 10 bouts or less, and after 10 bouts, believe you me, you soon become aware. Don't ever head up for the uppercut with your lead hand low. You will find out the hard way. Joshua knows all of this, he’s experienced it all before."
Joshua hit the canvas in the opening round following a spearing right-hand from Dubois that landed flush.
And Bellew is convinced the 34-year-old failed to recover from the knockdown.
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"I don't think he recovered from the first knockdown of the fight. And the one moment that he did get his legs back under him in that fifth round, he lands a big right hand, he has a bit of success and as he goes in for another one - that's what I liked about what Ben said, to go and roll the dice - I get that, but there’s ways and times to do so," he added.
"If I'm in Anthony Joshua's corner and the fight is unfolding the way it is in front of me, I'm pleading with him, ‘let’s just get to round eight'. Make your jab a bit stronger, navigate away from the right hand, come away from the right hand consistently. Daniel Dubois has not got the greatest left hook. You know what his right hand is all about. It's dynamite. It is what it says on the tin. Just navigate away from the right hand, let's lock him up, let's tie the right hand up when we're in close and then in patches we can work. Let's dig him downstairs to the body and let's navigate away from the right hand, like I said before. But he's meeting him. And it's not the right time to roll the dice because you've been nailed a right few times.
"You've been down four times. Once this fight gets to round eight, Daniel Dubois might have started to question himself. Surely, you've got to be saying to yourself, 'right, I've watched this guy. I've studied this guy. He tires as the fight goes on, he starts asking questions of himself, he doesn't have the most amount of confidence'.
"You start the fight, and you give him all the confidence in the world when he can land a big strong heavy jab on you. When he's landed, he's knocked you down. Daniel Dubois’ confidence, it starts here and if he lands on you consistently in the first round, it grows and it grows. When he gets that knockdown, it's here. He must be feeling invincible at this point and he's a man that won't be stopped, and he won't be deterred away from his plan. And his plan was to crush Anthony Joshua.
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"Now, if Joshua comes out, puts a heavy jab on him, lands a big right hand of his own in the first couple of seconds, that confidence that started there, it starts diminishing. We've seen what happened with Joe Joyce. He was pounding away at Joe Joyce in the first few rounds. He was giving it to Joe Joyce with his left hand, right hand, everything. But as Joe Joyce has taken them, it's like, 'wow, he's still here. He's still here'.
"And you've got to take whatever you can mentally from those fights and go, 'I'm going to take him back to that place'. If he'd have got to a round eight against Anthony Joshua, I genuinely believe Joshua would have seen the best of it. And then that's when you've got to start pressing to say, roll the dice in round five. It's a little bit mad, but like I said, I don't want to kick a man when he's down. I think Ben Davison is a good coach. I just think he’s given a bit of bad advice there."
Joshua's defeat to Dubois snapped a four-fight winning streak, which included victories over Otto Wallin and Francis Ngannou.
A rematch against 'Triple D' appears to be in the works.
Topics: Spotlight, Tony Bellew, Anthony Joshua, Boxing
Nasir Jabbar