Should AJ sack his corner/trainer?

Yes, how are you supposed to add any new strings to ones bow otherwise.

Rob clearly hasn't added anything for years now, he was shouting brilliant boxing from ringside during the usyk fight.

To shout for the other fighter like that is just plain rude

So yeh, AJ should have changed it up a long time ago , soon after he turned pro imo

 

There is little to no chance of Joshua gambling and taking risks now: the first Ruiz fight has made him gun shy.

As for the bold and underlined text, you have Rob McCracken spouting hollow platitudes such as "Brilliant, AJ! Just brilliant!" when Joshua was being completely befuddled by Usyk. At this point in time, McCracken is little more than an a cheerleader who is there to do as he's told.

 

AJs chin is the problem.

He can't be aggressive like he used to be, he has gone up levels now. he's been found out, he built a reputation on the up and Ruiz burst that bubble.

Opponents know they just have to throw punches at him and he goes in to his shell because he knows he can't take a solid smack, even from a career cruiserweight.

 

Even someone as limited as Whyte would give Joshua a slap now. The only problem for Whyte would be if he could actually maintain the pressure and not let Joshua off the hook if he manages to hurt Joshua.

I suspect it wouldn't be that much different than their first fight, with Whyte hurting Joshua and pressing for a finish, only to get chinned himself.

 

The problem is that AJ doesn't have the intuitive sense that comes from boxing at a young age. He can never develop it, yet for some reason he (and McKracken) thinks he can, and guys like Usyk and Fury and even The Blob have always outshined him in this regard. He also doesn't possess the toughness attribute to just go at it for long periods of time. I think AJ has reached his level, and I think we're seeing this in his Boxing.

I do agree with you though. AJ, if he wanted to beat Usyk or Fury, would need to develop a kill or be killed attitude. His only chance of beating these guys is by early stoppage. But from what I've seen of AJ recently he just doesn't have it or isn't willing to go all the way. His performance against Usyk was a weird form of ineptness and arrogance / delusion. Yet, if he went full out, Usyk might just lay him out early instead. I just don't see him taking the risk anymore after the Ruiz 'embarrassment'. I don't really see where AJ can go from here tbh besides from going all in and somehow stopping Usyk early.

 

Yeah AJ was hurt against Wlad, badly hurt and Wlad didn't pull the trigger and AJ turned it around.

He was beaten in to submission by Ruiz, he was hurt multiple times by Usyk and in that 12th round wasn't far away from being stopped.

We've heard stories (and sure they are just stories) and there have been a few of him getting battered in sparring, once by Okolie another cruiserweight.


AJ is an "on top fighter" or what some would call "a bully fighter", if he is on top and dominating sure he looks great but once he meets any real resistance he starts to crumble..

The tongue comes out, the smiling, the nodding and now top level fighters who have genuine ambition have all seen it and will go after him.

I understand what you're saying, Wlad is a perfect example, he found trainer and a style that suited him, felt comfortable in and what worked but AJ has built a reputation on being explosive and exciting.. he is sold that way.

If AJ starts to jab and grab or jabbing and running around the ring then it's not going to be a good look and it's a hard sell.

Especially while Fury is in exciting fights and capturing the publics attention.

AJ tried to do that against Parker and that fight was slaughtered, he did it against Ruiz but the narrative there was "get the titles back at all costs" and he did but the approach was hammered as unexciting and somewhat dull.


It's a difficult position to be in for AJ, he has to do all this inside 6 months and then fight Usyk.

 

You know what, I would pick AJ against Whyte but Whyte would be a very live underdog in my opinion because he would come to fight, he would come to hurt him and that's when AJ is vulnerable.

 

McCracken is a good trainer but he's taken Joshua as far as he can I think. His game plan for Usyk was all wrong and even before Usyk, I think Joshua's progression as a fighter had started to slow and plateau. His game plan for Ruiz 2 worked but damn it was the most basic adjustment, get lighter, move, box behind the jab. I would expect greater nuance added to Joshua from another trainer with better knowledge.

AJ has gotten as far as he has on natural talent and ability to pick things up quickly but if we are honest his boxing skill set while decent is hardly elite and he'll need to improve if he's to ever beat Usyk or Fury.

AJ's biggest flaws are his tendency to stand right in front of his opponents and lack of head movement, one is bad, both is why despite his height and reach advantage Usyk was able to get to him so often. He needs to learn to angle off after he throws a punch, he's just so static and while McCracken will no doubt have been trying to get him to move off the line, whatever drills he's been using to drill this into AJ haven't worked because he spent most of the fight right in front of Usyk.

 

Those aren't exactly subtle tells.

 

I think mentally given the break between Pulev and Usyk he was ill prepared and probably didn't do his due diligence to make a decision on his gameplan for Usyk. I'd imagine he put full faith in Robert McCracken and maybe it would be better for him to find a trainer who puts more premise on Joshua to try different things and have a different plan if one might fail.

I get the impression McCracken is too amateur, conventional boxer minded when it comes to his training techniques. A lot of trainers adopt old school methods but i get the impression with SugarHill is he let's Tyson find out what the best gameplan is and they work it out through sparring with different sparring partners.

I think at the end of the day McCracken probably knows AJ better than himself and has trained him to box to his strengths and what he's able to do in the ring.

So, I think Joshua hasn't mentally figured out how to create a gameplan for himself once he's in the ring and is fully reliant on his trainer for advice. I don't get that impression with Usyk and Fury. I think both fighters listen to their corner but i get the impression they also have a plan b if the going gets tough due to their training methods.

I think overall it doesn't matter what trainer trains Joshua as SugarHill could give him a plan to fight like Fury in the 2nd Wilder fight but Joshua could not implement that particular gameplan because it doesn't play to his physical strengths, stamina...etc...

I think at this point there's only so much a trainer could teach him and it would be mostly minor tweaks. Someone like SugarHill could potentially turn Joshua back to his more aggressive ways but also make him more vulnerable in the process. I don't think there's a perfect fix no matter who trains him.

 

I know

He can't help himself, he starts showing out and it's so obvious, AJ let's everybody know he is struggling.


I would love to play him at poker

 

And if you beat Joshua, Eddie would book a rematch, so you'd get to take him to the cleaners twice at the very least.