ANTHONY JOSHUA, at his training camp deep in the heart of Texas, should think long and hard about the boxing adage: “Fighters make trainers — trainers don’t make fighters.”
Joshua sacked Robert McCracken — the man who took him from the amateurs and turned him into a world heavyweight champion — after he lost his WBA, IBF and WBO titles to Oleksandr Usyk at Spurs’ stadium two years ago.
He replaced him with Robert Garcia — but he didn’t last long. He was shown the door when AJ failed to regain his belts in the return in Jeddah seven months ago.
As AJ sets out on the road to redemption, there will be another stranger in his corner when he makes his comeback against Jermaine Franklin at the 02 Arena on April 1.
After much searching, AJ has settled on the highly- respected Dallas-based American Derrick James, to resurrect his shattered career following his second defeat against Usyk which led to his shocking post-fight meltdown in the ring.
The way Joshua’s going he’s likely to end up with more trainers than Nike.
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Franklin, 29, who has been with his trainer Jesse Addison for 17 years, made a valid point when he said: “This is the third trainer Joshua has had in his last three fights. At what point do you start blaming yourself and not the trainer.”
Heavyweight stars like Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Larry Holmes, Evander Holyfield and Frank Bruno didn’t discard their trainers as soon as they lost.
Having a competent trainer who can be trusted implicitly inside and outside the ropes is vitally important to a fighter — it instils confidence and eases tension.
I was lucky enough to spend hours in gyms studying the all-time great coaches.
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Angelo Dundee, Manny Steward, Lou Duva, George Benton and the incomparable Eddie Futch, who trained no less than five world heavyweight champions, are some of them.
All emphasised understanding a fighter’s psychology was as vital as working out strategy.
But the daddy of them all was Ray Arcel who trained 20 world champions including Roberto Duran, Barney Ross and Ezzard Charles — he was the sage people like Futch went to for advice.
The time I spent with Ray in Montreal before the first Duran-Sugar Ray Leonard fight more than 40 years ago I regarded as priceless.
Arcel has been dead nearly 30 years but his philosophy lives on.
He said: “The secret of being a trainer is to know and understand the individual that you are working with.
“Know when to say something — know when to be quiet. The story of boxing is the story of the trainer because the trainer is the boss — the trainer is the pillar of hope for every fighter.
“But when you are in that ring by yourself, you’ve got to know what you are doing and what you are facing.”
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Every British fan will hope Joshua and James hit it off in the short time they have been together and they can forge a partnership that leads AJ to further glory.
Joshua should take note of Arcel’s most telling remark: “Boxing is brain over brawn. I don’t care how much ability you’ve got as a fighter — if you can’t think you are just another bum in the park.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
