Anthony Joshua has been told by Ricky Hatton to rebuild his confidence before targeting what would be a huge fight against Deontay Wilder in the future.
'AJ' has lost on his last two appearances, with successive defeats to Oleksandr Usyk. These defeats mean that he has lost three times in his past four fights and hopes of world championship fights are currently off the table following the breakdown in talks with Tyson Fury in September.
However, there are still big fights to be made, and Hatton believes that Joshua can rebuild his confidence and target what would be an extremely exciting fight against Deontay Wilder. It would pit two former world champions against each other and the victor would have a good claim to face the winner of the expected unification fight between Usyk and Fury.
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Hatton was speaking to Mega Casino, saying: “I'd have a little bit of a rebuilding fight to get his confidence and no-one should complain about it.. He's lost his last two fights against Usyk, which is no shame whatsoever. Another factor is how hard he took the defeat where we grabbed the mic and he took the belts out the ring and everything like that.
"So, obviously it affected him hard. So, don't chuck him in at the deep end again. Give him someone a bit of a token, you know what I mean? And then go in for the Wilder fight. What he's achieved is superhuman. Olympic gold medalist, two time heavyweight champion of the world, but none of us are superhuman, you know what I mean?”
Hatton also emphasised the importance of former trainer Rob McCracken, who coached Joshua to two world championships, claiming that the 33-year-old should never have parted ways with the trainer who helped him become a two time heavyweight champion. MCracken was replaced after Joshua's first defeat to Usyk, being replaced by Robert Garcia for the rematch.
He added: “Personally, I wouldn’t have left Robert McCracken, to be honest with you. The reason why I left Billy Graham was he had that many injuries happening to him, it made sense. I had to leave him, I didn't have any choice. Billy, through no fault of his own, wasn't the trainer he was a few years ago, he was just riddled with injuries, you know?
So, that's why I left Billy. But having said that, there was no reason for AJ to leave McCraken. Nobody knows him better than Robert McCracken, he's been there with him from the Olympics, he's been there with him for his first world title and that, so nobody knows him better than Robert McCracken.”
“I was a little bit disappointed with his last team because when he got beat by Usyk, poor Anthony, he looked like he was having a bit of a breakdown in the ring. You know what I mean? He got the belts and he threw them out the ring. And he was going to the opposite corner to congratulate them and giving a fist bump and he was a little bit aggressive. And I thought to myself, somebody needs to get a grip of him maybe, he doesn't look like he's handling this really well. And then he got the microphone.
"And I was watching it in Tenerife with my mates, and I was practically screaming at the TV saying, “somebody get the mic off him. Get the mic off him and put your arm around him and say, ‘come on, AJ, son, come on, come on, let's get back to the changing room. Let's regroup, mate.’” You know what I mean? But they didn't. Your job as a coach is not just to do what those 12 three-minute rounds and when the final bell goes, that's it your job's done. No, your job is to look after your fighter until he leaves the venue.
"People don't realise how much pressure you're on at that high, bigger stage of a high profile of a fight. So, he's obviously not taken it well, which sometimes we don't. And I just think his team has just stood there and just let him carry on and carry on, carry on. Of course, I wish I could have jumped in the TV myself. “
“Rob would have controlled the situation, all day long. But no, he let him chuck the belts over the ring, storm around the ring, scream and moan, and then get the mic and do all that. I could’ve nearly cried for him. He was having a really bad time with it.”
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