British trainer, Dominic Ingle, believes that the once face of the sport, Anthony Joshua, is no longer a ‘superstar boxer’.
Joshua is a two-time world champion and if he retired from the sport today, would still be remembered as one of the all-time great British heavyweights.
Nevertheless, back-to-back defeats to Oleksandr Usyk have led ‘AJ’ to the lowest point of his career, with some believing his time at the top is now over.
Following his most recent defeat, Joshua seems to have parted ways with recently-appointed trainer, Robert Garcia, after just one fight, a move which Ingle believes to be disrespectful.
Speaking to Boxing King Media, Ingle believes that Joshua’s recent defeats mean he’s no longer the ‘superstar boxer’ he once was.
“He’s got to go back to the start. Start where his mentality was, to learn, instead of thinking that he is this superstar boxer, because when you get beat, you are no longer that. You have to go back and regroup, not look for another way, an easier way, to try and be where you are. It is a bit disrespectful to Robert Garcia and he might have a fight with his next trainer, and then go somewhere else.”
Ingle added that there are too many people who have attached themselves to ‘AJ’ since his rise to the top of the sport and that there are two many voices in his corner, as a consequence of this.
“Ultimately, Anthony Joshua has to let himself loose from all the hangers-on, all the rabble. There are so many back-slappers in boxing, you don’t get a sense of reality, you’ve got to keep your feet on the ground.”
“The first thing that Robert Garcia should have done, is kick anybody else out of the camp, who is trying to train Anthony Joshua.”
“AJ is the fighter, as the fighter, all he needs is a good boxing trainer. He doesn’t need anybody else”. “If you have anybody other than that, all your doing is having people around you to boost and massage your ego. The sooner the better that AJ cuts them all off, that is when the improvement is going to be.”
There are some who believe Joshua would be well advised to go back to basics and link-up with Rob McCracken once again, as he will not have time to build up a relationship with a new coach.