Anthony Joshua took on several children in sparring and even got caught by one leaving a little cut.

Anthony Joshua suffered a little sparring cut at the hands of kids ahead of his IBF world heavyweight title fight with fellow Brit Daniel Dubois. The two-time world champion, 34, stepped into the squared circle to playfully take on some youngsters at his amateur gym, Finchley ABC.

“Which one of you cut me? Was it you?” Joshua smiled, with a visible cut seen on his cheek in a video. One of the kids owned up and earned a nod of respect from Joshua.

AJ will look to become a three-time world champion on Sept. 21 at Wembley Stadium against Dubois, who picked up the belt after Oleksandr Usyk relinquished it. Tensions threatened to boil over when AJ and Dubois came face-to-face, with the former threatening to throw a chair in his rival’s face after claiming to be disrespected.

The Brits have also got up close and personal before in sparring, with Dubois leaving a mark. Joshua revealed his rival Dubois “cracked” him but did not KO him in sparring a number of years ago. “I knew Daniel from the GB squad,” Joshua said.

“I’d just turned professional but I stayed around the GB squad. I’d still train there, so we would spar. Good spars. This whole conversation that you’re trying to get at, he just cracked me with a good shot. But I stood on my feet.

I don’t know where this whole narrative that someone turned my lights off came from. There was a lot of people that were in the gym that day. And they’ve come out and said nothing happened.”

Joshua added: “Look, people say what they say. And with me, there’s always been an inch that makes a mile, but it’s all good. I’m not saying he has the chance to do it on September 21, because sometimes what you speak comes into existence, but I won’t let it happen and I’ll show you how good I am. Whether it’s in the ring sparring or in the ring fighting, I won’t let anyone manhandle me or try and knock me out. No way.”

Dubois will be keen to see off Joshua later this year to keep a watchful eye over Usyk’s rematch with Tyson Fury. Dubois was beaten by Usyk last year but he gave it a good go against the Ukrainian, unluckily having a knockdown chalked off as it was perceived to be too low. Like Joshua, Dubois isn’t getting dragged into the past over previous sparring.

“I don’t want to talk about no sparring or none of that,” Dubois said. “It happened seven years ago, and to be honest, I can’t remember that. I’m not here to spar him, I’m here to fight him. So let’s keep it on the fight.

“What I will say is that it was great being up there and sharing that experience with these guys that were at the top of their game. Another thing, speaking of sparring, people have mentioned sparring me and they’ve come unstuck, so I don’t want any bad luck to follow me!”