Joshua didn't head their advice and stuck with his long-time trainer. Together, the combination went 2-0 with Joshua regaining the belts in the rematch with Ruiz in December 2019 and a stoppage win over Kubrat Pulev in December 2020. But the catcalls came back again when Joshua lost the belts to Oleksandr Usyk in September. It appears the former two-time unified heavyweight champion heard the backlash and could be on the verge of finding a new head trainer in his corner.
In the middle of October, Joshua made the trek over to the United States. He met with Canelo Alvarez and his lead trainer, Eddy Reynoso, as well as Ronnie Shields, Robert Garcia, and Virgil Hunter. A decision hasn't been made on if and who Joshua will choose. However, if Joshua decides to change directions and have a new primary voice in his corner, his promoter is on board.
"Honestly, I get asked that question, and the answer is the person that fills him with the most confidence to me because you need to be sure about what you're doing, especially him because he's a deep thinker," Eddie Hearn told DAZN News after a media workout conducted by Teofimo Lopez. "He's an intelligent person. It's just about believing in the process, the tactics, and what you're doing—so believing in the tactics when you go out there and when you come back to the corner sitting down and believing in the person that is drumming the information into your head.
"I think a change of environment will be good for him. He has been training in Sheffield, which is the home of the GB Amateurs, for 14 years. It's a long time. When he came over (to America), it wasn’t an interview process. It was just talking and learning, and he liked the sound. He liked everything he saw in many different places. But it was refreshing. It was new. Sometimes you just need that freshness in what you do."
After the fight, the consensus among people inside and outside the sport felt Joshua lacked the killer instinct against Usyk and didn't use his bigger frame to bully his way to victory. However, Hearn doesn't think it was that and the problem lied somewhere else.
"No, I just think he was complicating things," Hearn concluded. "He tried to box a boxer and thought he could outbox Usyk. Bad decision. He won't do that again."