Tyson Fury’s former coach has been part of the team training Anthony Joshua over the last few months, Eddie Hearn has revealed.
Ben Davison, who trained Fury in his first five fights after his comeback to boxing in 2018, was known to be assisting Joshua as he prepared for a potential encounter with Deontay Wilder.
But promoter Hearn has now revealed the extent of a relationship that he believes has helped Joshua across his past few fights.
The heavyweight parted ways with long-time trainer Rob McCracken last year and has been working with American Derrick James of late.
And while insisting that James remains in primary control, Hearn has confirmed that Davison has been part of Joshua’s team and helped him out during the boxer’s time in the United Kingdom.
“AJ is with Derrick James, 100%,” Hearn told Boxing Social. “But Ben is a fantastic coach, and I think that has the kind of mind that AJ would tick with.
“AJ is the kind of guy who doesn’t like to be out of camp for too long, and there is a chance he fights in December. So if that’s the case, he wanted these couple of weeks just to sharpen his tools before he heads into camp in Dallas with Derrick.”
Davison helped Fury navigate a return to professional comeptition in the summer of 2018, and was with the current WBC heavyweight champion through his draw with Wilder in December of that year.
Fury has since gone on to beat the American boxer twice.
Joshua’s plans for the future remain unclear, with Hearn admitting last week that a possible encounter with former MMA star Francis Ngannou could be an appealing idea.
Anthony Joshua could fight Francis Ngannou in the future— (PA Archive)
Ngannou impressed in his debut bout with Tyson Fury last month.
“As we start to plan AJ’s next six to 12 months we just want to know if that is an option,” Hearn told the BBC.
“We could have that event in Saudi Arabia or other countries in the Middle East. Africa sounds incredible – can they come up with the money to do it? I don’t know.
“All of a sudden that fight between two giants, they’re carved out of stone, it becomes a massive fight. We’re definitely willing to consider it.”
