Carl Froch believes Anthony Joshua has gone backwards with his career since swapping out trainer Rob McCracken in 2021 following his first loss to Oleksandr Usyk. Froch says Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) needs a training team “shakeup” after losing to IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois by a fifth-round knockout last Saturday night at Wembley Stadium.
AJ’s trainer, Ben Davison, reportedly told him to throw two jabs and an uppercut going into the fifth round against Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs). Joshua followed that advance and was knocked clean out by Dubois after getting nailed by a counter right.
Froch doesn’t need to say it because dumping Ben Davison should be just a given after that performance. It’s not just the instructions given to Joshua going into the fifth round that was the problem. Since Ben Davison is the captain of the ship, he’s the one who should be fired for steering Joshua into the rocks.
That was the icing on the cake. The real issues were these:
- Fighting passively in the first round: Joshua came out looking scared in the first, running around the ring and being chased by Dubois. What on earth was Joshua doing? You don’t run from a slugger like Dubois because he’s faced those types of fighters his entire career, and he knows how to deal with them.
- Bulking up: AJ had put on upper body mass during training camp, and that weight slowed him down, making him overmuscled. That was a dumb move.
- Backing up with Chin in the air: In the first round, Joshua was retreating with his chin up in the air, almost daring Dubois to tag him.
“Ben Davison wanted AJ to look for the uppercut, which is a dangerous punch,” said Carl Froch on his channel, talking about the advance that Anthony Joshua was given by his trainer Ben Davison going into the fifth round of his fight against IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois last Saturday night at Wembley Stadium.
This is what Joshua gets for using Davison as his coach rather than sticking with McCracken as his trainer. AJ should have stayed loyal to McCracken because he had done a good job with him. Joshua wasn’t going to beat Usyk, no matter who was his trainer. We saw that when AJ was beaten in the rematch with him, and McCracken was no longer with him.
“When you throw an uppercut out at range, you leave your chin exposed. That was the reason he lost that fight and got a bad knockout. For me, he’s [Joshua] gone backwards. He’s not getting any better,” said Froch.
Joshua has been in the sport long enough to know that it would be insane for him to throw an uppercut against a huge puncher like Dubois. Ideally, Joshua should have just ignored what Davison told him and did the logical thing by using his jab to box from the outside. Joshua could have always fired him after the fight for those instructions and found someone good, like McCracken.
“He’s had four gimme fights, and now he’s gone in with a lively opponent in Daniel Dubois, who can bang. That’s why the [instructions to throw an uppercut] in round five was a stupid idea,” said Froch.
Those four tomato cans that promoter Eddie Hearn had fed to Joshua after his second loss to Usyk seemed to plant ideas into his head, making him think he could dominate Dubois as he did them. What a mistake.
“He’s gone backwards since he left Rob McCracken, and if he’s going to go forward and come back and have a rematch with Daniel Dubois, then I don’t think he’s got the right team around him. He needs a big shakeup in the team,” said Froch.
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