“He works on certain drills, but obviously I’m his head coach and I go in the corner on the night, and we do the tactics together.”
By Richard Damerell
Last Updated: 11 / 09 / 19 1: 11 PM
Anthony Joshua’s rematch preparations will be overseen by Rob McCracken
Anthony Joshua’s head coach Rob McCracken will resume his leading role on the training team and ruled out any drastic changes ahead of the Andy Ruiz Jr rematch.
Britain’s heavyweight star endured his first professional defeat at the hands of Ruiz Jr in June, which sparked calls for Joshua to reassess his preparations for the rematch in Saudi Arabia on December 7,live on Sky Sports Box Office.
McCracken insists additional coaching staff have always assisted Joshua, but he will devise the game-plan and supply instructions as usual for the second world title fight.
4: 02Joshua admits he will make little changes to his lifestyle after first defeat
“I think everybody just gets the wrong idea all the time,” McCracken toldSky Sports. “Lots of people have always worked with us in the camp.
” I’m the head coach, but I can’t do everything, so we’ve always had different people coming in who are good on the pads, who are good with movement, footwork drills whatever, so there’s a variety of people we use.
” I mean ‘Benga’ his cousin has always worked with Anthony. Nobody is really aware of that, unless AJ mentions it, so the reality in boxing now is you don’t have one coach and one boxer, year in, year out. doesn’t work like that.
Joshua’s cousin Ben Ileyemi, nicknamed ‘Benga’, is part of his team
“We have a variety of people. He works on certain drills, but obviously I’m his head coach and I go in the corner on the night, and we do the tactics together.
“Hopefully he can employ them and he can get the job done, but yeah, normal stuff, normal camp. “
Speaking onAJ: The Untold Truth,Joshua has reiterated his faith in McCracken, but suggested fresh staff would
(0:)Ruiz Jr went head to head with Joshua at last week’s London press conference
“Whoever said that is a clown,” said Joshua. “Part ways with McCracken? No way. These people don’t understand loyalty.
” These people aren’t cut from the same cloth, if that’s what they are suggesting.
“Whoever has that mindset should not bother talking to me, if they have that mindset.”
He added: “I want to make positive reinforcements and bring in new troops on the battlefield to combat this war.”
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