Anthony Joshua’s trainer responds to critics of ‘roll the dice’ advice during defeat to Daniel Dubois

Ben Davison has hit back at critics after coming under fire for telling Anthony Joshua to ‘roll the dice’ against Daniel Dubois.

Joshua was badly beaten by Dubois in a brutal stoppage defeat in September, having been dropped to the canvas four times during the fight.

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In the fifth round as AJ returned to his corner, his coach Davison urged him to ‘roll the dice’ and push the pace against Dubois.

It appeared to work as he began landing some powerful shots on Dubois, with the crowd roaring as he let his hands go in the stanza.

But his gung-ho approach ultimately saw him fall victim to a devastating counter right hand which left him slumped on the ropes.

It was a savage shot which closed the show and condemned Joshua to defeat, which led to an inquest from boxing fans and pundits into the corner advice.

Although Davison insists he will not shy away from criticism, insisting Joshua simply wasn’t weathering the storm.

“In terms of the ‘roll the dice’ I don’t shy back on that,” he said on talkSPORT White & Jordan.

“The comments from Shane [McGuigan] were to tell him to weather the storm and try and do it down the stretch.

“He had tried to weather the storm and we weren’t able to do that and Daniel has a good question down the stretch.

“And for us to get back in the fight we needed to roll the dice. Not long after that was the most success he had in hurting Dubois.

“He put a right hand behind his jab and took a chance. I don’t blame him that he got carried away after four rounds.

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“But unfortunately came up short, we take that as a team and of course there were things that went wrong and we can address that.”

Davison had been on an extremely positive spell with Joshua, having guided him to dominant wins over Otto Wallin and Francis Ngannou previously.

It was believed to be the dream partnership for Joshua, but he now faces a rebuild which appears as though it will still take place under the stewardship of Davison.

Analysis of the Dubois defeat has led many critics to a number of different theories including his behaviour during his ring walk.

But Davison has dismissed these and believes excuses are not the way forward for Joshua and his team.

Davison added: “It is hard to say based on how he looked and I can’t comment on how he walked to the ring.

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“It’s important for us that we don’t look like were making excuses. There were things that went wrong we could have done a better job with.

“But you can sometimes say those things and come out victorious so you can’t point the blame.

“We’ve got to own it and wear it, we haven’t made any excuses. Unfortunately we took a loss and we have to take it on the chin.”

Joshua looked set to rematch Dubois but the fight was shelved, with the former champion now facing a return in the spring or summer period in 2025.

He could now wait and see if he is able to face Tyson Fury, after he rematches Oleksandr Usyk this weekend.

talkSPORT will bring you live commentary of Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday, December 21 with our coverage kicking off from 7.30pm

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