Given the majority of fighters and trainers insist on sessions remaining confidential, with filming mostly forbidden inside the sacred four walls of the gym, sparring stories often circulate throughout the boxing world as the stuff of legend.
And when you’re a scalp as large as Anthony Joshua, training partners don’t need a second invitation to give their version of events if it paints them in a positive light.
Over the years Joshua, whose career is on the line this weekend against Jermaine Franklin at the O2 Arena, has been the subject of some eye-opening accounts from heavyweights claiming to have got the better of him.
Yet not every story makes grim reading for AJ, who also boasts some gym bragging rights of his own.
Ahead of his outing against Franklin on Saturday night, Sportsmail has taken a look at the most famous sparring stories involving Joshua, including a memorable early battle with future nemesis Tyson Fury.
![Anthony Joshua has been at the centre of some eye-opening sparring stories over the years](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/30/11/69286113-11919287-image-m-11_1680173852417.jpg)
Anthony Joshua has been at the centre of some eye-opening sparring stories over the years
![Joshua is said to have dished out some heavy beatings and been floored himself in the past](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/30/11/69286175-11919287-image-m-16_1680173948165.jpg)
Joshua is said to have dished out some heavy beatings and been floored himself in the past
David Price
While their respective careers went on to prove chalk and cheese, Price gave Joshua a brutal taste of the professional game when they crossed paths in a 2011 sparring session.
Still plying his trade as an amateur at the time, AJ was made to pay for his inexperience when he shipped a crushing right hand from the Olympic bronze medalist and fledgling pro, which left him in a heap on the canvas.
‘I just caught him with a big right hand and down he went,’ Price recalled in a recent interview with iD Boxing.
‘He had to get helped up, type of thing, and ushered out the ring. And it was no big deal to me at the time, and there was no shame in that happening to you if I hit you, especially at that time before I had a couple of hand injuries.
‘And I never mentioned it until I was mentioned as a potential opponent in 2016 when he fought Eric Molina. I was in the IBF top ten so I could have been a voluntary defence for him, and I was calling for the fight and people were laughing at the thought of me fighting him.
‘That’s when I thought I’d spill the beans and let people know that he isn’t indestructible.’
In the end, Price failed to justify his early billing as the best heavyweight prospect in the country, suffering a host of knockout defeats before retiring aged 38 having never competed for world honours. Joshua, meanwhile, now stands tall as a two-time champion.
![David Price was a fledgling professional when he sparred with amateur prospect Joshua](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/30/12/69286689-11919287-image-a-23_1680174896756.jpg)
![Joshua took a heavy right hand in the session](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/30/12/69286701-11919287-image-m-22_1680174886400.jpg)
David Price claims to have put Joshua on the deck when they crossed paths back in 2011
![Price recalled his encounter with a young AJ during a recent interview with iD Boxing](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/30/12/69286799-11919287-image-a-24_1680175107529.jpg)
Price recalled his encounter with a young AJ during a recent interview with iD Boxing
Daniel Dubois
Price is not the only British heavyweight believed to have sent Joshua tumbling in sparring, however.
When he first burst onto the professional scene in 2017, rumours of Dubois inflicting a similar humbling on the then-world champion quickly began to do the rounds, with promoter Frank Warren insisting his latest heavyweight charge had put him on the deck.
Fuelling the fire, Warren said at the time: ‘Not only did Dubois knock [him] down, he absolutely did for Joshua in the gym.’
And DDD himself refused to deny that version of events during a later appearance on talkSPORT.
When asked about the talk of knocking Joshua down in sparring, Dubois said: ‘Yeah, that sounds swell, doesn’t it?
‘No, it’s great. It was good sparring for me and it’s good people are still talking about it.
‘One day we can hopefully get it on.’
Nevertheless, Dubois’ apparent success against Joshua remains dubious to this day, with neither man publicly confirming or denying what went down.
![Another British heavyweight believed to have put Joshua down in sparring is Daniel Dubois](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/30/12/69285177-11919287-image-a-25_1680175919771.jpg)
Another British heavyweight believed to have put Joshua down in sparring is Daniel Dubois
![When he first burst onto the scene in 2017, rumours surfaced of Dubois flooring AJ in sparring](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/30/12/69287205-11919287-image-m-27_1680175970423.jpg)
When he first burst onto the scene in 2017, rumours surfaced of Dubois flooring AJ in sparring
![But AJ's former stablemate Frazer Clarke (R) is adamant the story has been exaggerated](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/30/12/69287277-11919287-image-m-32_1680176150070.jpg)
But AJ’s former stablemate Frazer Clarke (R) is adamant the story has been exaggerated
And Joshua’s former stablemate Frazer Clarke is adamant the story has been exaggerated by Dubois’ confidantes.
‘I have never seen him put Joshua down,’ Clarke said back in 2018.
‘I am sure I am at 99 per cent of the spars and he has hit him flush and has probably shook him up a bit, but the way they make out that he put him down on his backside, it just never happened.
‘I can honestly say if it was true, Joshua would turn round and say, “Yeah, it happened, it was true”, but he hasn’t.
‘Don’t get me wrong, it’s sparring and people take big shots and I have seen him [Joshua] take a big shot off Daniel and I’ve seen him give Daniel a big shot.’
Joe Joyce
Unlike the other heavyweights in this list, Joyce has locked horns with Joshua both competitively and in sparring.
The British stars went toe to toe as amateurs at the London Area Preliminaries for the 2011 English National Championship, with Joshua coming out on top in the first round.
![Joe Joyce (centre) has locked horns with Joshua both competitively and in sparring](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/30/12/69285181-11919287-image-a-33_1680176823570.jpg)
Joe Joyce (centre) has locked horns with Joshua both competitively and in sparring
![Joshua could meet Joyce later this year](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/30/12/69287705-11919287-image-m-37_1680176913601.jpg)
![Joyce is on the cusp of a world heavyweight title shot](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/30/12/69287719-11919287-image-m-38_1680176917776.jpg)
The domestic rivals have been touted as professional opponents on several occasions of late
After their initial meeting, AJ enjoyed a rapid ascent to the top of the heavyweight tree, scooping gold at London 2012 before becoming a unified champion in 19 professional fights.
Joyce, meanwhile, earned a silver medal at the Rio Games in 2016 before venturing into the pro ranks in 2017. He is still on the cusp of a world-title opportunity, and a showdown with his old adversary has long been mooted.
Joshua tweeted last year: ‘I boxed joe and stopped him in 1 round. I’d do the same thing today! Ain’t nothing changed.’
As well as their amateur meeting, the pair have shared countless rounds as Team GB stablemates over the years, and last year footage of one of their spars was leaked on social media.
Joshua appeared to get the better of it, whipping in a series of strong attacks while evading Joyce’s best shots.
However, the Juggernaut stressed last year that the leaked footage has been edited to show his rival’s best moments of the spar.
‘He leaked, or his team leaked, footage of sparring – all his best bits,’ Joyce told Metro.
![Leaked footage last year appeared to show Joshua getting the better of Joyce in sparring](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/30/12/69285179-11919287-image-a-39_1680176943958.jpg)
Leaked footage last year appeared to show Joshua getting the better of Joyce in sparring
‘Some of the sparring I have seen out there is from when we were drilling certain things. He can only throw left hooks, he can only throw straight arm shots, you can only throw bent-arm shots – certain scenarios like that.
‘I don’t know what is going with Joshua these days, I haven’t spoken to him or seen him in a long time. Something has gone to his head. He seems to be a lot more vocal on Twitter and I guess I kind of took the bait.’
Tyson Fury
An all-British showdown between Fury and Joshua is at risk of becoming one of the greatest fights to never happen on these shores, though an AJ win against Franklin this weekend could reignite hopes of their grudge match finally going ahead.
And should they collide at long last this year, it will very much be 13 years in the making.
What seemed an inevitable collision course first began when Fury, a professional prospect at the time, visited the Finchley Boxing Club to enjoy some light rounds with a 20-year-old Joshua.
But it turned out the Gypsy King was in for a rude awakening.
![Fury and Joshua first crossed paths back in 2010](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/22/17/68996037-11890945-image-a-91_1679504610472.jpg)
![AJ could finally meet him as a professional this year](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/22/17/68996119-11890945-image-m-90_1679504603637.jpg)
Tyson Fury once admitted he was given a ‘beating’ when he sparred a 20-year-old Joshua
![Fury, a professional prospect at the time, was shaken by a young AJ when they first collided](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/30/13/69288401-11919287-image-a-40_1680178039084.jpg)
Fury, a professional prospect at the time, was shaken by a young AJ when they first collided
‘He’s red hot [Joshua], he’s very good,’ Fury told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Steve Bunce and Mike Costello in an incredible early forecast which sets the scene for a potential battle as professionals. ‘To be honest with you, I thought to myself, “I’m only going to take it easy as he’s an amateur and we probably won’t spar again if I go mad.”
‘He’s rushed out at me, he threw a one-two and left-hook and I slipped. I thought, “He’s not that good, I’m going to take my time.” Then bash, he gives me a big uppercut right on the point of the chin.
‘If I’d have had a bit of a weak chin like David Price, I’d have been knocked out for a month.
‘He’s very, very good and he’s only young, 20, watch out for that name Anthony Joshua he is one prospect for the future.
‘He came out at me for three rounds and he gave me a beating – I’m not going to deny it, he gave me hell for leather for three rounds. I thought “oh my god, an amateur is killing me.”
‘Being a professional, and I’ve been an amateur myself and fought all over the world, I slowed him down a bit with a few good body shots.
‘The kid’s only 20, and I’m a handful myself, so for him to put up a good performance like that against a top prospect in me, I think he’s one for the future.’
Joshua has also lifted the lid on his early spar with Fury in the time since, although the Olympic gold medalist offered a more modest take on the events which unfolded.
He recalled: ‘I just got my head guard on, gum shield in, and we just cracked on. Me and him just had a straight war. What I learned about Fury is we’ve got the same heart. We’re both fighting people and we go to war.
‘I didn’t manage to knock him out. We both hit each other with some big shots, powerful shots.
‘Years ago he predicted “watch out for the kid, he’ll be heavyweight champion of the world one day’ – and he got his prediction right.”‘