Anthony Joshua will have a new trainer in his corner for his controversial bout with Jake Paul next month.
It was confirmed this week that Joshua and Paul will meet in a shock eight-round heavyweight match-up at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida on December 19, with the event being streamed live on Netflix.
Paul was originally set to meet WBA lightweight champion Gervonta Davis this month, but after ‘Tank’ was named in a civil lawsuit regarding domestic allegations, the main event was pulled, meaning Paul has now gone from facing a 135lb fighter who stands at 5ft 5in to a former world heavyweight champion who is 6ft 6in and has weighed over 250lbs on multiple occasions.
AJ was last in action in September 2024 when he suffered a fifth round knockout defeat to Daniel Dubois in their IBF heavyweight title fight at Wembley Stadium in London, and he had trainer Ben Davison in his corner for that bout.
The Brit announced during the launch press conference with Paul that he has parted ways with Davison, confirming recent reports that he will instead be trained the coaching team that work with current heavyweight king Oleksandr Usyk.
“So no, I wont be trained by Ben Davison. I said that London is a bit distracting for me. I was invited to train with team Usyk, so I’ve been in Spain, we’ve been doing some good training and he’s one of the best in the world and it’s not all down to him it’s also down to his team, so I linked up with them.
“Getting an insight into how someone who has achieved so much has been phenomenal. Igor [will be my head trainer on the night]. I’ve been with them a couple of months now.”
Joshua — who later said that he spoke to Davison about the decision and the British trainer said it was a good idea — knows Usyk well, having lost two fights to the Ukrainian in 2021 and 2022, and will now be hoping that the decision to join his former rival’s set up will result in him having similar success.
It isn’t the first time that AJ has made drastic changes to his training team, having also worked with Rob McCracken, Robert Garcia and Derrick James in the past.
