Roy Jones Jr. believes that Anthony Joshua needs to dump coach Ben Davison in favor of someone who has actual experience in boxing. Jones Jr. feels that Ben doesn’t have the prerequisite knowledge of the sport because he is not a fighter.
Joshua’s failure against IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois last month was due to Ben’s coaching advice, which shipwrecked AJ and sent him to the bottom. Joshua’s career is now in bad shape. If Joshua chooses to keep Ben Davison, it would be the same thing: garbage in, garbage out.
If Joshua were a younger fighter, staying loyal to Davison wouldn’t be a big deal, hoping he can fix things. Joshua turns 35 on October 15th, and he doesn’t have much time to hang with an inexperienced trainer.
If Joshua doesn’t want to be the one who fires Ben, he can have Eddie Hearn do the dirty work. It doesn’t matter who does it, but Joshua needs an experienced guy who can help him prepare for the rematch with Dubois if that’s the direction he will be heading.
Joshua is good enough to beat Tyson Fury with no coach at all. He could have someone he pulled from the street to work his corner for a fight against Fury, and he’d still likely win.
For a rematch against Dubois or a trilogy clash against Oleksandr Usyk, Joshua needs to have Ben Davison walk the plank and send him overboard in favor of a new captain for his ship.
Ben Davison Lacks Experience
“It takes real boxing knowledge to prepare yourself and get better. If you don’t have someone with real IQ and boxing knowledge who has been there and done that, they can’t teach you anything,” said Roy Jones Jr to talkSport Boxing about whether Anthony Joshua can win his rematch against Daniel Dubois.
“You need someone who can charter those seas when they get tough. I don’t think Ben Davison has been in enough fights. Ben has done a lot of coaching, but it’s hard when you haven’t been there yourself.”
Jones doesn’t say who he thinks should take over as the new trainer for Joshua, but it wouldn’t be a shock if he’ll be throwing his hat in the ring, hoping to get the job. If Joshua can unlearn all the stuff that was put into his head by Davison, Roy could help him. There’s a lot of stuff that Joshua would need to unlearn for a talented coach like Roy to turn his career around.
“Some guys get lucky, but it’s very difficult for a coach who hasn’t been there himself. I can’t tell you how to swim through the ocean if I’ve never swam through the ocean before. I’m sorry,” said Roy.
Davison briefly trained Tyson Fury, but he offloaded him in favor of Sugarhill Steward and had a nice little run until fighters figured out how to defeat his style. He needs to be dumped as well.
“It’s nothing against Ben Davison because he’s been good, but when you get in that deep water and you ain’t been in that deep water, that shark invested water, it’s hard for you to tell somebody what it’s like because you’ve never been there,” said Roy Jr.
Jones Jr. is right. It’s not personal, but Ben has got to go because he’s useless ballast for Joshua, and he needs to be unloaded pronto. It’s unclear why Joshua hired Davison in the first place, but it’s definitely time to find a quality coach who can help him prepare for this important rematch with Dubois. Ben will be fine. He’s a popular coach in the UK, and he’ll continue to get fighters interested in being trained by him.
