AJ IS REBUILT AND READY TO RUMBLE
OF all the tweaks, from the pads to the chats to the films, maybe it will soon be concluded that a trip to where he wasn’t meant to go did the most in getting anthony Joshua back to where he believes he belongs.
There’s an instructive tale in that. It’s told by Joshua’s manager, Freddie Cunningham, and relates to July, when the fallen champion called up six or seven close friends and family, and headed for a place that has always felt something like home.
There was no one from the aJ business, no obligations and no stress. It was simply a first trip in years to the country of his parents, Nigeria, and from there a series of unguarded visits to the slum areas of lagos.
‘It might actually have been his first time back there since he turned professional, I think,’ Cunningham tells
Sportsmail. ‘He was there for eight to ten days and there was no work at all. There is a lot of interest commercially in anthony in Nigeria, but we agreed he should just go and do his own thing.’
He had touched down around six weeks after that night in New York, when andy Ruiz left Joshua in a fog and inverted just about everything we thought we knew.
‘He travelled around all over,’ Cunningham says. ‘He went to all the places they advise you not to go — he saw the people, he went to the slums and he saw a lot of kids out there who he’s inspired and, honestly, I think that really showed him the impact he’s having.
‘He just totally reconnected with everything, his home and his roots. It really made an impression on him.’
If there was maybe a trace of ambivalence in Joshua’s mind about the industry that had given him more than £100million and then taxed rather a lot of pride, it was long gone by the time he landed back in london.
‘I think in terms of what he has experienced, with losing his fight, that trip was really important,’ Cunningham says. ‘I spoke to him when he came back and he was so energised.’
How energised? Is it enough? Will it ever be like it was before the astonishing events at Madison Square Garden on June 1?
On Saturday night, within a temporary structure in Saudi arabia, will Joshua offer a reminder about that old saying on form and class? His inner circle are convinced on all those questions. a BIG difference this time is in the numbers and the dimensions. Or so say the believers who have been behind closed doors on the first floor of the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, where Joshua was based from Monday to Friday for ten of the 12 weeks of this restoration mission. ‘a major change, if you ask me, has been the sparring,’ said Eddie Hearn. ‘Far more boxing and more partners.’ There was Bryant
Jennings, 6ft 3in and a contender in 2015 for Wladimir Klitschko’s titles. Then there was Tyrone Spong (6ft 2in and a 14-0 record), albon Pervizaj (6ft 3in, 12-1), Hussein Muhamed (6ft 5in, 14-0), Elvis Garcia (6ft 2in, 8-0) and andrew Tabiti (6ft 1in, 17-1).
all either experienced or strong prospects, several with good speed and a similar height to Ruiz. Dereck Chisora (6ft 1in and 18st 8lb) also dropped in, and there was a squat heavyweight in Timothy Moten, as well as big Tom little (19st 2lb).
all had something to replicate the unusual, enigmatic blitz of a Mexican-american who loosely drapes 19st off a 6ft 2in frame, but has deceptively quick hands. ‘I would probably say it is the only time I have seen one of his camps where the focus is all on the other guy,’ Hearn says. ‘It has been about tailoring for andy Ruiz and what he brings.’
One of the issues before the first fight, told to Sportsmail by a source connected to Joshua, is that their main body-match sparring partner in the final weeks, Joey Dawejko, did not fully engage in the sessions.
Of course, that is contradicted by folk on the outside who speculated Dawejko dropped Joshua in camp and gave him a concussion which carried through to fight night. That theory has never been forwarded with any great authority.
More plausible, based on views of those in the camp, is that the most monumental heavyweight shock since Buster Douglas beat Mike Tyson derived from Joshua being underprepared — not for a fight but specifically for Ruiz.
Working back from the most decisive factor of all — a massive left hook behind the right ear — the defeat can sensibly be traced to Joshua’s complacency towards his opponent and a build-up spent largely preparing for Jarrell Miller and talking about Deontay Wilder.
By the time Miller (6ft 4in, 22st 7lb) was busted for drugs, and after 16 contenders were whittled down to one, only four weeks were left for Joshua to adapt to a fighter whose physique was significantly different to Miller’s and horribly misleading.
Ruiz would go on to knock Joshua down four times before the stoppage in round seven to win the IBF, WBa and WBO world titles.
all clues this time point to more of a boxing contest. Or rather that seems the plan, with Joshua expected to come in considerably lighter than the 17st 9lb he weighed for the first fight after sparring, technique and shadow work in front of the mirror were ramped up and strength and conditioning was cut back.
That has dovetailed with the appointment of pad men angel Fernandez and Joby Clayton.
While getting rid of Rob McCracken was recommended by lennox lewis and rightly ignored by Joshua, it is self-evident that the new recruits were brought in because it was felt some aspects could be done better. among the reasons, Sportsmail understands, is that McCracken is unable these days to withstand as much time and punishment wearing the body pads. ‘There have not been any major changes but there have been a few smaller ones,’ David Ghansa says. Ghansa is Joshua’s friend since childhood and now his camp manager. ‘He has been working smarter. I wouldn’t say it is a case of Joshua 2.0, but it is another level he has reached with change.’
IT TOOK Joshua around three weeks to make headway in the processing of defeat. ‘The initial shock for him was the first 24 hours,’ Cunningham says. ‘Then it was about adjustment.
‘Everything since has been about improvement. I don’t think he feels he has fulfilled what he feels he can do in boxing. He is a very focused guy.’ That is one reason why his team has dismissed the rumours that the distractions around his Miami camp came into play last time. Ghansa says they went out for a meal one Sunday and that was the extent of it. likewise, Cunningham says his much-discussed entourage of 23 has stayed the same, adding: ‘any similar-scale business would have that amount of staff.’
For this fight, a picture has been painted by Joshua’s circle of a man obsessed. He has taken to regular phone calls with former world champion Wladimir Klitschko. among other things, the Ukrainian recommended Joshua cut salt from his diet. Joshua did.
a lot of the beaten man’s time has been spent watching fight tapes.
Hours have been given to re-watching the third round of the Ruiz fight, but Ghansa says: ‘He is now watching any fights he can find, black and white, as far back as you can go. I know a fair bit about boxing but now I am constantly having to ask him: “Who is this?”
‘He has always been a student of the history of it but now I feel like he has a Masters.’
They are catchy words. If Joshua gets it right this weekend, they will look wiser still. as will all those little details, from the holiday to the salt and everything in between.
Combined, they might just be an answer to a question that no one expected to be this difficult.
’It is not a case of Joshua 2.0, but he’s reached another level’