By Craig Daly: Eddie Hearn has revealed that Anthony Joshua has picked out his new coach and will be training in the United States for his return to the ring on April 1st in London. AJ will start training camp next week for his next fight against a still-to-be-determined top-20 opponent.
Hearn didn’t say who the former two-time heavyweight champion Joshua’s trainer was for some reason, but he’s saving the announcement for later.
Boxing fans are more interested in who Joshua will be fighting next than they are with the new coach, as whoever takes over, they might soon be swapped out for another trainer once AJ gets beaten or looks terrible again.
Robert Garcia trained Joshua for his last fight against Oleksandr Usyk last August, but he opted to replace him after his defeat.
It’s a game of musical chairs for Joshua, with him shuffling through trainers, hoping they can revitalize him and return him to the fighter he was before Andy Ruiz Jr got to him in 2019. If Joshua believes that a coach will be a magic genie that can transform him into something he’s not designed to be, he needs to wake up and realize he’s asking for the impossible.
“I know who the new trainer is; it’s quite a personal thing really,” Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn said to the DAZN Boxing Show, adding more suspense it than it otherwise should be.
“I always like AJ and any fighter to come out and announce that with his team. He is going to train in America, and he’ll start that camp in the next week, so you guys will get the news soon.”
The diehard fans of the 33-year-old Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) will be eager to discover who the lucky coach is, but it may not matter. Joshua’s cardio & chin problems have been resistant to change.
If he’s going to be bringing over Angel Fernandez to share coaching duties with his new trainer, it could be an unhealthy situation for whoever the new guy is.
It’s unknown why Joshua has an April fool’s date as the return to the ring, as that kind of makes him look bad because many fans will laugh at him.
They think his career is a joke at this point, and fighting on April 1st gives them fuel for the fire. Joshua will look especially bad if he faces a bottom feeder that is just absolutely poor because it would be made clear that his career is falling apart.
Joshua needs to face a credible top-five contender and assume that his new coach will teach him enough to come out victorious.
Options for Joshua’s April 1st fight:
- Zhang Zhilei
- Martin Bakole
- Frank Sanchez
- Arslanbek Makhmudov
- Otto Wallin
- Andy Ruiz Jr
- Joseph Parker
- Luis Ortiz