Anthony Joshua has spoken about the “pain” he has endured in his professional boxing career ahead of his IBF world heavyweight title fight with Daniel Dubois at Wembley on Saturday.

Joshua, 34, is looking to reclaim a world title for the first time since his first defeat to Oleksandr Usyk in September 2021, and told the BBC about the internal difficulties of attempting to return to the pinnacle of the sport, particularly given he fell short again against Usyk in August 2022.

“I’ve worked hard and been through a lot of pain, and I’ve worked hard to get better,” he said.

“Hopefully, those experiences won’t happen again because, as you saw that night [after the second Usyk loss], I don’t like losing.”

Since that 2022 defeat in Saudi Arabia, Joshua has rehabilitated his career with comfortable wins over Jermaine Franklin, Robert Helenius, Otto Wallin and most recently Francis Ngannou. In that last fight, Joshua brutally knocked out the former UFC superstar in Round 2.

“I think I’m gifted with an ability to fight and compete. In boxing you’re able to read certain tendencies, you’re able to read your opponent, so I can always have an eye for that,” Joshua said.

“But there’s a supreme level that you can take it to. And it’s happened over the past eight or 10 months. I’ve really honed in on those skills.”

Joshua’s clash with Dubois is set to take place in front of 96,000 fans at English football’s national stadium, with the winner likely to assume prime position to fight either Tyson Fury or Usyk next, depending on the outcome of their rematch in December.

Technical Director of the Nigeria Football Federation, Austin Eguavoen, has denied stepping down as the interim coach of the Super Eagles after the two 2025 AFCON qualifiers against the Benin Republic and Rwanda.

Eguavoen was appointed by the NFF to take charge of the two games following the inability of the federation to secure the services of German coach, Bruno Labbadia, over what they call stringent German tax laws.

“In the event, Technical Director of Nigeria Football Federation, Coach Augustine Eguavoen, will now take charge of the Super Eagles for the upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Benin Republic (Uyo, September 7) and Rwanda (Kigali, September 10),” the statement announcing his appointment had partly read.

The 59-year-old led Nigeria to a convincing 3-0 win over the Benin Republic in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, last Saturday before being held to a goaless draw in the second game of the series by Rwanda on Tuesday.

After Tuesday’s goaless draw in Kigali, Eguavoen was said to have stepped down as interim coach but the gaffer has denied the reports ahead of next month’s AFCON qualifiers double header against Libya.

“It’s quite unfortunate that people just trigger something that is not correct. And the situation we are in now, we don’t need negative stories,” Eguavoen said on arrival at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja in a media chat.

“I only talked about sitting down with the hierarchy of the federation after these two games and we will see how to go about prosecuting the next games.

“But when I saw that story I was worried. Whatever people are reading out there aren’t correct. I’m still very much in charge. I’m the Technical Director of the NFF, saddled with the responsibility of taking the Super Eagles at this moment,” he said.

Dickson Ndiema, the man accused of fatally burning Rebecca Cheptegei, the Ugandan athlete, is dead.

According to local authorities, Ndiema, an ex-boyfriend of Cheptegei, died on Monday from burns sustained during the attack on his former partner.

The ex-boyfriend was accused of dousing Cheptegei in petrol and setting her ablaze while she was returning to her house from church in western Trans Nzoia County, Nairobi, on September 1.

The 33-year-old athlete suffered burns on 80 percent of her body and was being treated at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret City, where she died on September 5.

Ndiema also suffered burns from the attack and was also admitted to the hospital for treatment. His injuries were initially considered less critical.

Reports filed by the local chief had said the two ex-lovers had been fighting over a piece of land.

Cheptegei, who lived in Kenya, represented Uganda at the 2024 Paris Olympics and finished 44th in the women’s marathon event.

She is the third elite sportswoman to be killed in Kenya in the last three years.

In 2021, Agnes Tirop was found stabbed to death at her home in Iten. The husband of the 25-year-old was also named the suspect in the murder.

In 2022, Damaris Mutua, another Kenyan-born athlete, was found dead in a house in Iten, and her then-boyfriend was also identified as a suspect.