ROY JONES JR reckons Anthony Joshua came up short in his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk because the strategy wasn’t communicated to him properly.
Joshua, 33, suffered a split decision defeat to the slick southpaw in their Saudi showdown in August.
Coaches Robert Garcia and Angel Fernandez came into the firing line after the Jeddah jostle for giving AJ dodgy corner advice.
In an interview with OLBG, Jones Jr – who plans to work with the former two-time unified heavyweight champion – said of the duo: “They tried to make the change.
“But I think he did not really understand what they were asking for and it wasn’t communicated properly to him, so he could understand what was being asked of him – that’s my outside opinion.”
Joshua turned in a far better display in his rematch with Usyk than he did in their Tottenham tussle last September.
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But Jones Jr said: “I didn’t feel that the change he made was going to be good because you’re getting a smaller guy to teach you how to fight a big guy.
“So, it was a tough situation for Garcia because I don’t know if Garcia’s been put in that situation.
“I didn’t want to watch the second one because I didn’t want to lose my hope that he could beat Usyk.
“[My plan to beat Usyk], it’s the same concept that Garcia had in a sense, it’s just that Garcia is a shorter guy. He has a different way of doing it.
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“And to me it would be very difficult for him to communicate to Joshua how to do something – Joshua’s a tall guy and Usyk is a tall guy.
“It’s hard for a short guy to explain something to you that he never had to do. I’m not tall, but I had to deal with all of them.
“I went from junior middleweight to heavyweight. Nobody ever did that in the history of the sport.
“My range is a little bit different than Garcia’s.
“I do understand what Garcia’s plan was, but sometimes different backgrounds, different ways of articulating things to people – sometimes they get it, sometimes they don’t – I don’t think he was able to articulate it to Joshua where Joshua really understood it.”
Joshua is expected to return to the ring early next year, although an opponent for the first fight of his rebuild has yet to be finalised.
He said earlier this month: “I don’t know [when I’ll be back].
“I was supposed to be in the ring this year, I’m going to be in the ring next year. I’ll be in the ring when I’m in the ring.
“I don’t want to make statements today and then I’ll get held to the cross.
“Do you know what I mean? When I’m ready, I’ll be back in the ring.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
