Derrick James has revealed that Anthony Joshua is taking inspiration from Errol Spence Jr. after his move to the United States for training.
James is Joshua’s new trainer as he prepares to comeback from two consecutive defeats against Oleksandr Usyk.
His first fight this year will be on April 1, live on DAZN, when he faces Jermaine Franklin.
Speaking to DAZN, James said that Joshua and current unified welterweight champion Spence have been in discussion in the gym as they train.
“They’re good, they talk,” James explained.
“Errol asks him a couple of questions. When Errol is hitting the bag, working out, AJ is watching him.
“It’s like a mutual respect. That’s what most guys need to get to the next level or get that thing back that they had before. Even with Errol, he sees him doing some things, and they both work off each other.
“In the last four years, there’s been no gym with two unified champs, especially with an undisputed champ, especially with two champs period in the same gym.
“Everybody feels like they can help him. It’s all about strategies.
“Until we can get everything down, it’s about the strategy to get him in his space where he can do what he needs to do and not get hit until he gets accustomed to everything.”
James also anticipates that he could help Joshua work out a plan to fight Usyk, were there to be a trilogy rematch.
“Yeah, because I train two left hand fighters,” he said.
“When I saw him the Usyk fight, I thought, ‘What the heck is he doing?’ I’m laughing.
“The stuff that you work on are things that you can’t see initially. The initial things that you work on are things that are not even physical. You can’t even see it. It’s things that are really small, and you build from there. When you work on one thing in particular, everything blossoms behind that.”