Anthony Joshua has been told by British boxing great Carl Froch that he must "sort his head out" before he steps into the ring for a second time with Oleksandr Usyk.
The two-time world heavyweight champion lost his belts for a second time last September when he was thoroughly outboxed by the Ukrainian at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. But despite there being a call to take an interim fight and work his way back to title contention, the Watford native opted to activate an immediate rematch clause and force a second fight.
He has drastically changed up his camp in the lead-up to his second fight with Usyk, dropping long-time trainer Rob McCracken in favour of the American Robert Garcia. He then moved his operation from Sheffield to London, and is now in Jeddah to finish preparations for the Saudi Arabia showdown on August 20.
But Froch, who is a former super-middleweight champion, isn't so sure that Joshua has made the right calls in his preparations thus far. McCracken is a respected coach in British boxing, and the Nottingham fighter isn't sure that it was the correct decision to replace him.
"Everyone's already said it, but he's the bigger stronger man so if he can he can use those attributes he can get the win," Froch told Boxing Social. "The first thing he needs to do before he gets in that ring is get his head sorted out. He needs to get his head right and start to believe in himself, otherwise it's going to go wrong for him."
However, Froch does see the possible benefits of giving Joshua a new perspective from Garcia. The American has trained 14 world champions throughout his storied career, and will have a wealth of professional knowledge to impart on the heavyweight.
“I don’t think he should have left Rob McCracken but this change might do him good," Froch continued. "Because it might just reignite something and get him thinking differently, get him a little bit more aggressive. He needs to get his head right and start to believe in himself, otherwise it’s going to go wrong for him.
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Joshua explained his decision to make a change at a launch press conference for the Usyk fight, telling reporters that there were "too many voices" during his last outing. He has kept Joby Clayton, who could audibly be heard telling him he was boxing well in rounds he was losing, but has brought in Garcia to run his team.
“There was a lot going on in the corner and that didn’t help," he explained. "A corner is like a pitstop. You’ve got probably 55 seconds in total to calm down, hydrate, simple instructions. Too many voices at once is definitely not good for anybody, not just me. It wasn’t like ‘take the fight to this f***** , listen you’re losing the fight’, no.”
