But none of that stops sparring from becoming more than just sparring in instances like this. Sparring, or rather a solitary blow thrown in a controlled environment, becomes a crucial subplot, a headline, a fact. It becomes Exhibit A when looking ahead to what might occur when those two fighters, who shared that fleeting moment in an ancient sparring session, actually have a fight. 

Though it’s difficult to pinpoint a single contest in which the outcome was decided by Fighter A being psychologically wrecked by what Fighter B did to them in a training session in the deep and distant past, an incident in an old spar is pre-fight gold dust.

A national newspaper in Britain, on the strength of a second-hand interview, yesterday began their story on the matter like this: Daniel Dubois almost KO’d Anthony Joshua during a sparring session – but stopped out of respect. Woah, that sounds heavy…

Anthony Fowler, the retired former Team GB captain who also witnessed Dubois hit Frazer Clarke so hard that Clarke’s ankle split in half, saw it all.

“They were just sparring normally,” Fowler told TalkSport about the session that took place in 2016. “Dubois was really young so he wasn’t really trying to win rounds… I wouldn’t say he was in survival mode but he wouldn’t take many risks.

“He was very cagey sparring Joshua. Obviously, Joshua was the main man on the team so he was always quite wary, but he always punched really hard. Joshua must have been a little clumsy and he got caught with a short left hook and Joshua’s legs completely went.”

A lot of this is likely true. What’s certain, however, is that it took place more than eight years ago in a sparring session designed purely as practice for Joshua. Dubois may or may not be able to replicate the blow in 10 days’ time and Joshua’s legs may or may not react in the same way if he does. 

“Dubois probably could have hit him again and knocked him out but he chose not to out of respect,” Fowler went on. “Joshua used to get the better of most of the sparring but Dubois nearly knocked him out with 18oz gloves and headguards so if he catches him with those 10oz gloves Joshua will be going to sleep.”

What happened when Joshua got the better of the sparring is unknown but we could conclude, if we believed that sparring was more than sparring and not just sparring, that if Joshua simply does more of it and doesn’t get careless then he will win.  

However, it would probably be silly to make any such assumption on some sparring sessions that occurred while both were much younger, under the guidance of different trainers, and before either of them had fought at the highest level.  

“I’m not here to spar,” Dubois said when asked about the sparring. “This is not sparring.”