Former two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua has been criticized as of late for jumping around from trainer to trainer, but he believes that his upcoming opponent, Dillian Whyte, has made way too many changes to his corner.
“Look how many times he’s moved trainers,” Joshua told The Mirror. “He’s moved trainers so many times. Maybe he’s not developing at the rate he needs to, or people aren’t teaching him the things he needs to learn and it’s not good enough.
“He probably knows it himself. That’s probably why he’s moved trainers so much. I was thinking about this the other day. He was with [Chris] Okoh, [Mark] Tibbs, Xavier [Miller], Buddy McGirt, Johnathon Banks.”
For the bulk of his career, Joshua was trained by Robert McCracken. Following his first defeat to Oleksandr Usyk in 2021, Joshua parted ways with McCracken and hired veteran coach Robert Garcia.
In the aftermath of his second loss to Usyk, in 2022, Joshua broke away from Garcia.
Earlier this year, Joshua hired experienced trainer Derrick James, who is best known for his work with Errol Spence, Jermell Charlo and Frank Martin.
James led Joshua to victory over Jermaine Franklin back in April.
He’s the lead man in Joshua’s corner for the August 12th rematch with Whyte, at the O2 Arena in London.
Back in December of 2015, Joshua knocked Whyte out in the seventh round.
Some observers believe Whyte has declined in recent years.
He was shockingly knocked out by Alexander Povetkin in 2020, but then got revenge when he knocked Povetkin out in their 2021 rematch. The following April, Whyte was knocked out in six rounds by WBC world champion Tyson Fury. He returned to the ring in November of last year and had some struggles in securing a majority decision win over Jermaine Franklin.
Joshua, for his part, is taking Whyte very seriously.
“One thing that he has got is the fight [inside of him] and in America they call it the dog. He’s got the dog in him. He doesn’t lose what his foundation is. He’s one of those old school fighters. I just think that’s what he’ll always be. Do I think he’s improved [since our first fight]? It depends who he’s fighting, styles make fights,” Joshua said.
“When he’s fought a bigger guy he’s struggled a bit. When he’s fought short, quicker guys, he gave them problems. What Dillian lacks in certain areas, he makes up for in others. I don’t think he’s improved massively [since our first fight] but he’s maintained his standard and it’s paid off. He’s done well with that, really well. It’s taken him a long way.”