Anthony Joshua vs Daniel Dubois verbal warfare takes fresh twist over drug test (2024)

Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois will face off later this year (Image: Getty)

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"Evening @Queensberry… any update on why @DynamiteDubois isn’t signed up for @Vada_Testing yet??" the tweet read. Ahead of their domestic dust-up at Wembley Stadium, promoter Frank Warren's Queensberry issued a strong response.

"Daniel is enrolled as VADA will confirm," Queensberry said on X. Express Fighting has reached out to Queensberry for any additional comment. Dubois was tested ahead of his defeat to former unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk last Aug. It is not uncommon in combat sports for big fighters to sign up for random testing from VADA.

As a result, former two-time world heavyweight champion Joshua, 34, and Dubois, 26, will be subject to random drug tests from UK-Anti-Doping. And both fighters have clean records thus far. Joshua has seen prior rivals fail drug testing before or after getting inside the squared circle with each other.

Queensberry Promotions has cleared up questioning surrounding Daniel Dubois' VADA status (Image: Getty)

Robert Helenius being the most recent example after Joshua's rematch with Dillian Whyte was cancelled over a failed pre-fight drugs test. Whyte has since been cleared.

"I don’t understand how 60% to 70% of people can get away with doping if you get random drug tests? I get drug-tested all year round," Joshua previously declared.

He added: "Every quarter, I have to submit my whereabouts, where I’m going to be every day, at what hour of the day, so [drug-testers] can turn up randomly if they want. It’s been like that since 2011.

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Anthony Joshua's 258MTG questioned why Dubois wasn't signed up to VADA testing (Image: Getty)

"I’ve submitted it every day of my life. So why am I under that pressure but 60% to 70% of other boxers aren’t? Once you sign up to a top-tier promoter they should all have that [approach to random testing] as part of the deal.”

Things got tense between Joshua and Dubois at their faceoff, with the two Brits having to be separated. Joshua threatened to put his chair in Dubois' face. Joshua accused his junior Brit of disrespecting him.

"We had a bit of aggro, it’s good. There are two aspects to it, the competitive side, the Queensbury Rules of boxing," Joshua said later on. "But there is also the instinct that one has, as a fighter. And that is just how it is.

"Before I boxed, I was a good fighter, that’s an instinct you have when someone calls you out. He said ‘let’s go now’. And I said: ‘let’s go then’. No security, I just stepped away, I thought I would be the bigger man.”

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