No belts but so much at stake.
Anthony Joshua has come through one of his darkest hours and talks of a “new dawn”, a career reset which is geared towards joining the short but impressive list of three-time world heavyweight champions.
The salvage operation begins against Jermaine Franklin in London on April 1 and although it is the first time in seven years that a Joshua fight doesn’t have a world title belt attached, the significance of the showdown at the O2 Arena in London can be measured by the former champion’s decision to relocate to Texas to link up with another new trainer.
Last time out, Robert Garcia came to the UK. This time, Joshua is doing the travelling.
Derrick James has won awards and accolades for guiding world champions Errol Spence and Jermell Charlo, as well as the brilliant prospect Frank Martin, who beat Vergil Ortiz in the amateurs and is now making noises in the lightweight division as an unbeaten pro (17-0).
James has also worked with celebrities from the realms of sport and entertainment and has adapted his methods to cater for clients with mobility issues brought on by Parkinson’s Disease.
In terms of high-end boxing, he keeps it simple – and sparse. Joshua is one of a select few that James trains full-time and the set-up should suit. The move throws up the perennial question: is the fighter looking for solutions that only he has the answer to?
In that sense, opinion varies about trainer changes. Joe Calzaghe and Carl Froch stayed with their respective trainers throughout their professional careers and wound up in the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Bernard Hopkins heard a variety of voices in the corner and also earned a place in Canastota.
Hopkins has spoken in the past of boxing being a sport full of trainers but few teachers. James places huge emphasis on “teaching” and at the press conference in London to announce the Franklin fight, James described Joshua as a “boxing intellectual” and they might prove to be well-matched.
In conducting interviews with Joshua down the years, he has struck me as a student who devours knowledge of the history of the sport - and the heavyweight division in particular. And in terms of his “new dawn”, he has told me in the past of building his career in phases.
In 2016, a few weeks after he had beaten Charles Martin to claim the IBF title, I greeted him during a media day at the GB Olympic training base in Sheffield with the words, “Hello champ.” “Don’t call me champ,” was the reply, firm but not harsh. He went on to explain that he didn’t believe his victory over Martin was worthy of such acclamation. Just over a year later, when he stopped Wladimir Klitschko in their thriller at Wembley Stadium, he was ready to embrace the status of world champion and another new beginning.
When I stood on the ring apron in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, to get his immediate reflections on the revenge victory over Andy Ruiz in December 2019, there was no need for a first question. “Two-time’” he shouted into the microphone, proud of his place in the heavyweight annals.
Now the target is another tilt at history – and membership of a much more exclusive clique. Only four men have won the heavyweight championship three times: Evander Holyfield was 34 when he achieved the feat, Muhammad Ali and Lennox Lewis were 36, Vitali Klitschko 37.
Joshua talks of a freshness at 33 and that his heart is back in boxing. Franklin’s promoter Dmitri Salita duly played the game at the press conference by referring to Joshua as a fighter in decline. The performance in the rematch against Oleksandr Usyk, although a losing one, suggested otherwise. Even Joshua’s critics might grudgingly concede that his effort against the Ukrainian was better second time around.
To become three-time champions, Ali beat Leon Spinks, Holyfield upset Mike Tyson, Lewis knocked out Hasim Rahman and Klitschko overpowered Samuel Peter. Joshua is likely to have Usyk and Tyson Fury in his path.
In each of the past three years (including one badly affected by the pandemic), Joshua has fought just once. In an interview this week, he balked at the mention of Eddie Hearn’s plan for three fights across 2023, inferring that the burden of promotion and hype falls heavily – and mostly - on him and preferring not to gaze too far into the future.
The pressure-cooker existence is a consequence of the impact he has made in British boxing in what is close to a decade in the professional ranks. Some believe it fuelled the outburst in the ring after he had lost to Usyk in Jeddah last September.
In his own words, that reaction was raw and uncut. And maybe that visceral version of Joshua needs to be unleashed all over again, this time in the fight itself and with a new teacher in the corner to help him ration the passion, to ensure that the new dawn doesn’t dissolve into a false one.