Anthony Joshua appoints Derrick James as new trainer

After one fight under the tutelage of Robert Garcia, Anthony Joshua has officially secured a new head trainer for his April 1st clash with Jermaine Franklin. talkSPORT brings word that he’s joined forces with Derrick James, which Joshua’s team went on to confirm.

James’ pupils include Jermell Charlo and Errol Spence Jr, so there’s no questioning his pedigree. The big concern, of course, is whether cycling through trainers like this will fix what ails Joshua (24-3, 22 KO). It’s not like he did poorly in his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk, but then again, we weren’t privy to his training sessions. There’s every possibility that he and Garcia just didn’t mesh.

To be clear, I genuinely hope this works out for him. Joshua’s still a very gifted fighter, and at 33, there’s time to put the pieces back together again. Three trainers in three years just gives an impression that he’s searching for a magic bullet instead of doing the introspection necessary to understand why he’s struggling and how to fix it.