Anthony Joshua has reached out to respected trainer Ronnie Shields in a bid to resurrect his career and reclaim his heavyweight belts.
In the aftermath of his shock loss to Oleksandr Usyk last month, Joshua’s longtime coach Rob McCracken came under fire for his strategy in the unanimous decision defeat to the much lighter and quicker Ukrainian.
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It’s understood many questions were raised as to why the Brit tried to outbox Usyk, catering to his opponent’s strengths. It was widely accepted Joshua should have used his size advantage to bully the former cruiserweight turned heavyweight champ.
Joshua was photographed in the US recently with Shields and visited the trainer at his Houston base, to gauge whether the two have chemistry.
Shields currently works with Jermall Charlo and used to train former world champion Arturo Gatti as well as heavyweight legends Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield.
Joshua reportedly also considered Canelo Alvarez’s trainer Eddy Reynoso, who also now trains the man who handed Joshua his first ever loss, Andy Ruiz Jr.
Shields and Joshua reportedly enjoyed introductory sessions as the former champion tries to devise a plan to counter the speed and movement of Usyk.
Shields said he dissected Joshua’s loss and highlighted ways he can improve in a two day gym session.
“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.
“It would be great to get him to reclaim the world titles he lost to Usyk and I think I’ve got the capabilities to help him do that,” Shields added.
“I think our chemistry was really good, but I’m not going to lose sleep over [whether he chooses me].”
Shields said Joshua was receptive to the advice he offered up.
“The first day we talked for about three or four hours and when he came back today we did some light pad work to show him everything we talked about.
“You have to be able to show a fighter what you really mean and how he should do things. We did some light work and I put him through some drills to help him understand what I’d told him the day before.
“For me, it’s about the game plan. We talked about a lot of stuff, and we watched a few rounds of the Usyk fight together. I pointed out a few things that he should have done, but he didn’t do.
“It surprises me that a guy who was heavyweight champion of the world don’t know certain things.
“Like he said, ‘European boxing is different from boxing in the United States.’ He realised that he had to come to the United States to get something different.
“I don’t know what their game plan was, but obviously it wasn’t the right one and I guess he didn’t feel like it was the right one so this is why he wanted to make a change.”
Usyk and Joshua have agreed on a rematch, which is bound to be held early next year, with the Brit desperate to reclaim his titles in order to set up a massive unification bout with WBC champion Tyson Fury.
In other news, Britain’s Dillian Whyte has withdrawn from his scheduled fight with Sweden’s Otto Wallin in London on October 30, after suffering a should injury in training camp.
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