Why is Anthony Joshua so stubborn with keeping his current training team?

Maybe he is man enough to realise the fault and blame lays with him and nobody else. Forgive the pun, but sometimes you gotta take that L on the chin at look at yourself rather than point fingers at those around you who are there to help you.

 

How often were Foreman and Lewis in his camp? Have they ever done a session with McCracken. If not how can they say he needs to leave?? They have not been in his camp. The only person who knows if he should be leaving is AJ

 

Changing trainer after one loss is always a Kneejerk reaction usually spouted by fans and media types looking for a soundbite. The reality is, McCracken and the team will have Joshua's best interests at heart and have worked together for years. They all know each other inside out. Cant imagine somebody like Mayweather Snr seeing Joshua as anything other than an ATM. Look what happened with Hatton as an example.

Fact is, Joshua was overhyped. Hes very good, but just not the modern Ali like many thought he was. If the rumours are true and Joshua doesnt listen - his weight and over reliance on muscle etc - to his team, perhaps the loss is a wake up call. Lets see how the rematch goes. If he sparks Ruiz, then all this noise goes away.

 

McCracken offered sound advice in the corner which Joshua didn't, or couldn't, follow. Regardless of whether Joshua came into the fight compromised he made a major tactical error in trying to blast out Ruiz after the knockdown and never fully recovered. That wasn't McCracken's fault but Joshua's. I think he realises this, which is why he isn't trying to hide things by getting a new team (which rarely works anyway).

Joshua could have won that fight by staying tall and jabbing Ruiz's face off at range. That's the tactic I believe he'll go for in the rematch.

 

No doubt Joshua will be super cautious in this rematch but I just don't think he controls the distance well enough to be confident he can avoid Ruiz's punches and outwork him to a decision. I actually think Joshua is what he is, much like Bruno was, and any tinkering as in trainer changes could be pointless.

 

McCracken has done an excellent job with Joshua. Sometimes the limitations of a fighter is the reason for a loss.

 

But then why didn’t he listen to McCracken if he was giving such good advice? Maybe he didn’t trust him enough or respect him enough to listen to what he was telling him? In that’s the case maybe it would be an idea to bring some else in. Maybe someone more vocal and animated than the reserved mild mannered McCracken? Can’t think of who though?

 

Or maybe he's just too big headed? What makes you think he'd listen to another trainer. Joshua is a superstar, if he doesn't want a trainer to control him, they won't, regardless of who they are.

 

So one loss means that you have to blame everybody else and fire them? That’s the trend I see in modern boxing. Blame everybody but yourself.

 

It was basic advice. The problem is that McCracken could not comprehend what he was seeing himself. The reality is that its easy to say throw that jab over and over. It was a lot harder for AJ to actually execute it because Ruiz was countering him hard, ie. the jab wasn't working. McCracken was clueless imo in acknowledging that their gameplan wasn't working. No advice that he gave AJ was helpful even though it's what arm chair trainers were thinking AJ should have been doing. Ironically, he did all that, jab to the head maintain distance, jab to the body to keep Ruiz away. None of it worked. The trainer should at least at a minimum have eyeballs so he can see that his boxer is having trouble and figure a way thru, not just repeat the same useless advice over and over.

 

Loyalty inside his DNA.

 

Sonny, you have never boxed.

Ultimately the fighter has to excute the fight plan, the Trainer cannot fight for him......McCracken did not quit for him, the Bodybuilder did that on his own.........AJ has a very poor Ring IQ and cannot adapt under fire, and no, stone old WK who let him off the hook dont count., in other words, AJ is by no means a smart fighter.

You have been sold a bag of goods that dont deliver, AJ is simple not as good as advertised and will never be.

 

Fighters don’t take advice for all kinds of reasons — they’re spooked/distracted/not focused because they’ve had their bell rung; they hear it and absorb it but once the round starts they are more reactive by nature than proactive (in some cases); they are maybe telling themselves ‘I’ve got this’ and want to do it their way.

There’s a big difference between puppetry and coaching: Coaches (in any sport) can teach someone correctly and tell them what to do and in live action situations athletes for whatever reason don’t do exactly what they’re coached to do.

Now you can say ‘it’s still the coach’s fault,’ but if a guy veers off game plan in boxing and you underscore the game plan between rounds and tell him what to do and he doesn’t do it, some of that — in some cases ALL of that — is on the fighter.

In my experience (and I do have some coaching pros and amateurs back in the day), a fighter who doesn’t listen to one coach probably won’t listen to another. Go read the forum on training and see how many threads there are where boxers basically say “My coach isn’t very good because he wants me to do things his way and I want to do them my way” — and they in most cases have little or no experience ... but they think they know better.

In short, a coach can’t make a fighter do anything.

What does happen sometimes, even often, is a guy is successful not listening and that reinforces not listening and then he faces adversity and it doesn’t work out ... and he comes back to the gym humbled and starts listening. That’s AJ’s best hope.