Anthony Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) found a common language with a new coach, and Derrick James is delighted with the possibilities of his boxer. Joshua believes that this collaboration should bear fruit better than the past with Robert Garcia.
Since the days of Olympic boxing, AJ's training has been led by Robert McCracken. After that, they won the world title twice, but when Anthony lost to Alexander Usik, and earned his second defeat in four fights, having lost to Andy Ruiz before, he decided to change something in his team.
McCracken admitted that there are too many “advisers” around AJ with Angel Fernandez at the head. Fernandez stayed in the corner and McCracken was replaced by Robert Garcia. In the rematch with Usyk, Joshua looked better, but again lost on points. After one fight, he left Garcia and replaced him with Derrick James, The Ring magazine's 2017 Coach of the Year.
“Robert Garcia was not my choice. I asked Angel Fernandez to choose the best coach for me. And I just accepted his choice. After the rematch with Usyk, I was surprised to hear Garcia say that I was defeated mentally and physically. So this time I decided that I would make the decision about the coach myself. And I ended up in a camp in Texas,” Joshua said.
“After a good ninth round, Usyk returned with a very strong tenth round. AJ then turned out to be mentally broken, this affected the outcome of the battle. Usyk just turned out to be mentally stronger, ”said Garcia some time after the second defeat of AJ from Usyk. And it was these words that could push Joshua to another replacement in the corner.
The London 2012 Olympic gold medalist and two-time world heavyweight champion will be back with James in the corner on April 1st in London. His opponent will be Jermaine Franklin (21-1, 14 KOs), who in his last fight, according to some opinions, undeservedly lost on points to Dillian Whyte.
“The world has never seen a better option than this. Franklin is a really good fighter and we take training very seriously. Anthony is well versed in boxing and understands everything I ask of him. He is a great athlete, he has very fast hands, and I can't wait to see what will come out of our partnership in the long term, ”says Derrick James.
