On December 19th, Anthony Joshua will make the walk against Jake Paul at the Kaseya Center Arena. Fans are excited to see this ultimate showdown, and the British juggernaut is a massive favorite to win the bout. However, as the fight itself generates enough curiosity, the boxing world is also keeping its eyes on ‘AJ’s corner to find out whether Oleksandr Usyk walks out with him or not.

The Briton has fought the Ukrainian not once but twice, in 2021 and 2022. On both occasions, Usyk emerged victorious against Joshua, but the fights were definitely competitive. After facing each other in the ring, both developed a very good relationship, and now ‘AJ’ has joined the heavyweight champ’s camp in Spain as well. Does that mean ‘The Cat’ will corner him against Jake Paul? Let’s find out.  

Oleksandr Usyk will corner Anthony Joshua for championship bouts   

Leading up to his fight with Jake Paul, Anthony Joshua, the former two-time heavyweight champion, has begun training with Oleksandr Usyk’s team. Since ‘AJ’ is slated to withdraw from the match with ‘El Gallo’ this weekend, Oleksandr Usyk’s presence in the corner is not fully confirmed. Nonetheless, the Ukrainian team has given their word that Joshua will be challenged by them in his subsequent championship fights.

“This collaboration isn’t about one opponent. It’s about AJ’s development. Oleksandr Usyk will corner Anthony Joshua for championship bouts.” Oleksandr Usyk’s friend, Sergey Lapin, told ESPN. 

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Now, as the air isn’t very clear on the Ukrainian’s presence in the Englishman’s corner for the Jake Paul fight, moving forward, whenever Anthony Joshua fights for a title, we might actually see both superstars training with each other and cornering as well.

So, as we got some idea about whether the heavyweight Oleksandr Usyk would be in the former two-time heavyweight champ’s corner or not, let’s take a look at ‘AJ’s past two cornermen and training partners who have shaped his career.  

‘AJ’s past coaches: Ben Davison and Rob McCracken   

In his professional career, Anthony Joshua has trained under many accomplished coaches. Yet, Rob McCracken and Ben Davison are two individuals who are most renowned for making the Brit a proper boxing juggernaut. Under their coaching, ‘AJ’ has accomplished a lot, and they also worked as his longtime cornermen.

For the unversed, Rob McCracken was the director of Team Great Britain at the 2012 Olympics, when ‘AJ’ represented his country. From there, Rob started training future prospects, and Joshua was also part of his team. Under his guidance, the English fighter went on to achieve two heavyweight titles. However, unexpectedly, their relationship started getting sour when Joshua lost to Usyk back in 2021.

After parting ways with his longtime coach, the 36-year-old trained under Angel Fernandez, Robert Garcia, and Derrick James. But after changing those camps, Joshua found the right tuning with Ben Davison in 2023. According to the British former champ, Davison didn’t impose many changes on his fighting style and instead improved upon it, which was exactly what he wanted to develop.

Under a new team, Joshua went on to destroy Francis Ngannou in a boxing match. However, after spending a very limited time, ‘AJ’ decided to change his team again. The reason? Joshua wanted to seek some drastic changes in his fighting style after he lost to Daniel Dubois via knockout in 2024.

That said, as there’s a history of Anthony Joshua changing camps, do you think he’d stick with Oleksandr Usyk’s team regardless of the result against Jake Paul? Let us know in the comments section below.