'I caught Daniel Dubois in sparring and was proper scared – I begged him to call it off'

John Hedges has revealed that a sparring session with Daniel Dubois quickly went awry after an error on his part. The 22-year-old undefeated cruiserweight was honing his skills alongside 'DDD' at Newlands Boxing Gym under the tutelage of boxing icon Jimmy Tibbs when they decided to engage in some body sparring. This type of training is meant to focus on technique and minimise head trauma, as blows to the noggin are off-limits.

But Hedges was bricking it when he accidentally clocked Dubois in the face, thinking he had to put an end to the spar immediately. Chatting with Boxing Social before Dubois' big bout with this weekend, Hedges said: "Me and him got on really well to be honest with you - we trained together for about three months. "We were training down at Newlands at the time, still under the Tibbs banner and it was just one of them things.



It's a freak accident. Sometimes, being scared - and I'll be honest with you, I was scared - I'm trying to defend myself and he's a big man. Believe it or not, even if you duck to hit him his head's still there.

He's got a big head on him and Joshua will know that when he gets in the ring with him. "But I accidentally hit him on the way out to defend myself and I had to try and call the spar off but it carried on. I was going 'Daniel please, I didn't mean to, no malice in it' but it's one of them ones," Hedges added, via .

Despite the accidental hit, Dubois didn't let it ruffle his feathers and continued the sparring session with total professionalism. Hedges added: "It's boxing and Daniel's a gentleman, he's a very good man. And it was nice just to get the rounds in - I just wanted the experience.

I think I was a super-middleweight at the time it's crazy." Since his pro debut in 2020, Hedges has become a force to be reckoned with, boasting an unbeaten 10-0 streak with three knockouts under his belt. As for Dubois, he's gearing up for a massive challenge as he squares off against AJ this weekend.

At the age of 27, DDD has an impressive 21-2 record, with a whopping 20 KOs to his name.. He's only ever been bested by Joe Joyce and recent undisputed champ .

He's defending the IBF heavyweight title at Wemble and eyeing a blockbuster rematch with Usyk if he comes out on top. Joshua, aged 34, isn't short of accolades himself, having notched up a stellar 28-3 record since his pro days began in 2013. Formerly holding the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight titles, AJ is also gunning for redemption against Usyk after surrendering all his belts to the unbeaten Ukrainian in 2021 and coming up short in their 2022 sequel.

.