One of the key figures in Anthony Joshua bouncing back from his first professional defeat to regain his world heavyweight titles from Andy Ruiz Jr. has offered some fascinating insight into Joshua's training.
Timothy Moten made his professional boxing debut in October 2017 and has juggled his early attempts to make a name for himself with his day jobs as a carpet cleaner and a handyman.
When Ruiz stunned Joshua to win the WBA, WBO and IBF championships in June 2019, Moten lobbied heavily via social media to be considered as a training partner for the Brit.
Due to his physical similarities to Ruiz, Moten was recruited ahead of the rematch in Saudi Arabia that took place on Dec. 7, but was wary of the risk to his own fledgling fight career, if Joshua hadn't avenged his only loss so far.
"If AJ lost, the first thing people would have said was: 'It is because he had a carpet cleaner as his sparring partner'," Moten said with a laugh during an interview with Sky Sports this week.
When the rematch began, Moten was warned of the risks by a fellow sparring partner.
"Andrew Tabiti told me: 'This is a really big moment for Joshua, but also for us, because we'll get negative feedback if he doesn't win'," Moten explained.
"Tabiti was coming off a loss. Elvis Garcia and myself were virtually unknown. We knew that, for us, this would have a big impact on our careers.
"As far as proving to him that it was the right move, that came when he beat Ruiz Jr. with a completely different style. Our proving ground was AJ taking the game-plan and executing it.
"After he won, it was proof that it was the right move to bring us into camp."
Though the result made the experience a success, Moten admitted that sparring someone as skilled and powerful as the two-time world champion is a painful job.
"They told me: 'If you can't do anything to make AJ better, you will be sent home and we'll bring in somebody else that helps him get better'," Moten continued.
"Jabs were thrown no less than 70 per cent — and it was only 70 per cent because he was figuring out new combinations.
"I know, as a shorter fighter, how to take heat off shots. I saw him hit people with shots and take them off their feet. AJ's sharpness was crazy. If AJ was ever hit, he would fix the problem and never be hit by that same shot again.
"You have to go hard in sparring otherwise, in a fight, it will be foreign to you.
"The last four weeks of sparring got extremely difficult. I sparred him on the Wednesday before the fight. By that time, the sharpness of his shots was great. I got hit with a body shot that hurt and a straight right hand that hurt."
Moten won Joshua's team over with his work ethic, and believes the experience improved both of them on their respective rungs of the heavyweight ladder.
"The first day I went into the gym, I thanked AJ for the opportunity," he recalled. "But AJ said: 'We will both learn from this — it's as good for me, as it is for you'."
Now, the American hopes the experience will show in his own work, when he is finally able to return to the ring in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Moten is set to fight on Oct. 31 in South Carolina and hopes to cram his schedule after that in order to make up for lost time.
"A lot of guys don't get this opportunity. I was destined," he said.
"In time, I will be at the world-class level with Tabiti, Bryant Jennings, Derek Chisora and all the guys I met in that camp.
"I'll be 10-0 by March, then I'll be looking to take the next step up," Moten said.