After losing his IBF, WBA and WBO belts to Oleksandr Usyk, Anthony Joshua wants to rectify his game before making a stunning return.
Anthony Joshua is in the U.S. and has been spotted visiting various boxing gyms to take some pointers from renowned trainers in the sport.
Among the trainers Joshua has reached out to were Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s coach Eddie Reynoso and Andre Ward’s former mentor Vergil Hunter. But most recently, AJ has been spending time with veteran trainer Ronnie Shields, who has worked with Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield in the past.
Explaining how the new link-up happened, Shields revealed that Joshua came to him asking for “something different” heading into the rematch against Oleksandr Usyk, a favor he is pleased to do for the Brit.
“They reached out to me and they asked if I would be interested in taking a look at AJ and that he wanted to come down to Texas and see if things would work out between him and I,” Shields told ThaBoxingVoice. “I said, ‘No problem, I would love to see if we had a connection together’.”
“[Joshua] said, ‘European boxing is different from boxing in the US’,” he continued. “He realized he had to come to U.S. to get something different… I guess he didn’t feel it was the right [game plan vs Usyk] so he wanted to make a change. He told me, ‘Listen, I know people don’t think I’m a dog. I’m gonna be a dog in this next fight.’ And that’s his words. He told me, ‘I just need you to show me how to be the best dog you can teach me to be.”
Joshua has exercised his rematch clause and is expected to take on Usyk once again in March 2022.
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