Carl Froch believes there’s a ‘simple’ reason behind Anthony Joshua losing his unified heavyweight titles to Oleksandr Usyk back in 2021.
Joshua took the fight as a mandatory challenge given Usyk was coming up from Cruiserweight as undisputed champion and had dipped his toes into the heavyweight stream against Chazz Witherspoon and Derek Chisora.
He comprehensively outboxed the Brit, and even looked to be moments away from a stoppage before the final bell rang on a unanimous decision victory.
Speaking on Up Front with Simon Jordan, Froch said that Joshua didn’t listen to his trainer, Rob McCracken.
“It’s quite simple. It’s a really short answer. He didn’t listen to Rob McCracken. He didn’t do what he was told. He totally disregarded him. And that relationship broke down, and Rob wasn’t in the corner for the rematch.”
Froch was also under the tutelage of McCracken when he was fighting, and has kept a close relationship with him into retirement. He spoke on this, and warning signs he had heard from behind the scenes of ‘AJ’s training camp.
“He must’ve known that their relationship was gonna end. Because I’m friends with Rob, and because I have conversations with him, I can’t talk too much about what me and Rob talk about.
All I will say is, it’s quite easy for everybody who say that first fight to see that Anthony Joshua did not listen to Rob McCracken.
And the training camp – I know by the way because you get little insights from the camp and you hear other people talking about it, I’m not talking about Rob – not wanting to do hard runs. Not wanting to spar. If you don’t do that sparring and you don’t do the running, they’re the two most important fundamental things, you’re not ready for the fight.”
Joshua would split with McCracken after the loss, and link up with Robert Garcia for the rematch. It was a split decision loss the second time around, with some in the sport believing he performed a little better.
The former champion has now settled in Texas with trainer Derrick James as he mounts a comeback.