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Eddie Hearn believes Anthony Joshua has shed the fear of losing as he targets becoming undisputed world heavyweight champion next year.
Joshua fights for Daniel Dubois’ IBF title at Wembley on September 21 with the aim of meeting the winner of Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk’s rematch in December.
A British record 96,000 capacity crowd is expected to watch the 34-year-old become a three-time world champion later this month as he continues his resurgence since losing to Andy Ruiz and twice to Usyk.
Hearn believes those experiences have led to a change in Joshua’s outlook and given his four-bout winning run and history of stadium fights, there are questions over how underdog Dubois will cope with the size of the occasion.
“The vibe I get is that the fear of losing is not really there any more. Because of the Ruiz and Usyk defeats you’ve been there and experienced that and know how much it hurts,” the Matchroom promoter said.
“We don’t look at this fight and think the pressure’s on because if you lose to Dubois, what could happen? We’re just excited for the fight.
“AJ’s having a great camp, he’s working well with (trainer) Ben Davison and is firing on all cylinders.
“No fear of losing. At this stage he takes on all challengers and this one just happens to have a world championship attached to him.
“It’s a dangerous fight and it will be really interesting to see if Dubois can handle the pressure because I know he boxed against Usyk in Poland, but this is going to be a moment that makes his knees knock.
“You need to have not just a big set of bollocks, but also a really strong mind to compose yourself in those moments. Whatever the gameplan is, I think he’ll struggle to adopt it in there.”
Apart from an important change in mindset, Hearn believes Joshua is benefiting from the tactical nous of Davison and his assistant Lee Wylie, who have been in place for his impressive victories over Otto Wallin and Francis Ngannou.
“The best way to describe it with AJ is that when he understands the gameplan, he’s really, really good and really effective,” he said.
“It’s about the way you deliver that gameplan to him. In the Usyk fight, and maybe the Jermaine Franklin and Robert Helenius fights too, he just didn’t have that clarity.
“He’s a very bright guy and you can’t bluff him as a trainer. If he’s not ready or comfortable in the gameplan, he won’t be as effective.
“When he fully gets the gameplan and when it’s fully drilled, we think he’s unbeatable. And that’s how we feel at the moment.
“With all due respect to Dubois, he makes mistakes and he’s not a difficult fighter to work out.
“He’s very strong, can punch and he’s physically a problem, but when you analyse a fighter like that it’s not hard for the minds of Ben Davison and Lee Wylie to figure out the gameplan.”
