United States
United Kingdom
Former WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua has left the UK and gone to the United States to search for a new head coach.
The British boxer has trained with head coach Rob McCracken for years and it was under his coaching that he went on to win all his heavyweight belts.
However his recent loss to Oleksandr Usyk has left him unsettled about his future. While Joshua hasn’t officially parted ways with McCracken, it looks like their parting is on the cards as Joshua is speaking to a number of reputed boxing trainers in the United States.
When Joshua initially lost his heavyweight belts to Anthony Ruiz Jr, he stuck with McCracken and went on to rematch Ruiz Jr. and reclaim his belts. He suffered his second loss against Usyk in September 2021 who completely outclassed Joshua throughout the fight.
ESNEWS
Frank Warren who is the promoter for Tyson Fury was very critical of McCracken and the corner advice they gave out to Joshua during the fight. Warren said they told Joshua to keep fighting the way he was fighting even though he was losing rounds. He felt McCracken should have stepped in and told Joshua to go for the KO.
Joshua has invoked his rematch clause against Usyk and the two are expected to fight in Feb or March 2022. Warren believes this is another wrong move by Joshua’s camp and thinks he should fight some other opponent, get a win and some confidence under his belt, before he faces the champ Usyk and tries to reclaim his belts.
Joshua In Talks With Top Trainers
Joshua has met with some of the best boxing trainers in the world which includes Eddie Reynoso Virgil Hunter and Ronnie Shields.
Hunter is the head coach for Andre Ward who is an Olympic gold medallist and former world champion in two classes who retired undefeated. Hunter also worked with Brit boxer Amir Khan and now works with Joshua Buatsi who is managed by Joshua.
Joshua met Reynoso in San Diego and also spent some time with him. Reynoso is the head coach of Andy Ruiz Jr. and also Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez who is the number one pound for pound champ in Mexico.
Shields trained Mike Tyson for his fight against Lennox Lewis but never considered himself a coach to Tyson as Tyson was at the end of his career. We will have to wait a little longer to figure out who Joshua decides to train with for his next fight.
