Carl Froch believes Anthony Joshua’s career has gone downhill since he changed trainers Rob McCracken in 2021 after 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 fifth round knockout last Saturday night at Wembley Stadium.
AJ’s trainer, Ben Davisonreportedly told him to throw two jabs and an uppercut in the fifth round against Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs). Joshua followed that lead and was knocked out cleanly by Dubois after being nailed by a counter right.
Froch didn’t need to say that, as dumping Ben Davison should just be a given after that performance. It’s not just the instructions given to Joshua going into the fifth round that were the problem. Since Ben Davison is the captain of the shiphe is the one who should be fired for sending Joshua into the rocks.
It was the icing on the cake. The real problems were the following:
- Passively fighting in the first round: Joshua came out scared in the first round and ran around the ring chasing through Dubois. What on earth was Joshua doing? You don’t shy away from a slugger like Dubois because he’s faced those types of fighters his entire career, and he knows how to handle them.
- Fill: AJ put on upper body mass during training camp, and that weight slowed him down, making him overmuscled. It was a stupid move.
- Backup with Chin in the air: In the first round, Joshua fell back with his chin in the air and almost dared Dubois to tag him.
“Ben Davison wanted AJ to look for the uppercut, which is a dangerous move,” Carl Froch said on his channeltalks about the advance Anthony Joshua was given by his trainer Ben Davison going into the fifth round of his fight against IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium last Saturday night.
This is what Joshua gets for using Davison as his trainer rather than sticking with McCracken as his trainer. AJ should have stayed loyal to McCracken because he did a good job with him. Joshua wasn’t going to beat Usyk, no matter who his trainer was. We saw this when AJ was beaten in the rematch with him, and McCracken was no longer with him.
“When you throw out an uppercut at distance, you’re exposing yourself. That was the reason he lost that fight and got a bad knockout. To me he (Joshua) has gone backwards. He’s not getting better,” Froch said.
Joshua has been in the sport long enough to know that it would be insane for him to throw an uppercut against a big puncher like Dubois. Ideally, Joshua should have just ignored what Davison told him and done 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 going 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,” Froch said.
Those four tomato cans that promoter Eddie Hearn fed Joshua after his second loss to Usyk seemed to plant ideas in his head, making him think he could dominate Dubois the way he did. What a mistake.
“He’s regressed since he left Rob McCracken, and if he goes forward and comes back and has a rematch with Daniel Dubois, then I don’t think he has the right team around him. He needs a big shake-up in the team,” said Froch.
