RONNIE SHIELDS, ANTHONY JOSHUA's potential trainer, has been instructed by ANTHONY JOSHUA to unleash the best in him against Oleksandr Uzyk.
After the September crushing loss to his heavyweight world titles, Watford's 32-year old ace has decided to leave Rob McCracken, his mentor. He will now be touring some of America's top gyms.
Anthony Joshua asks Ronnie Shields, Mike Tyson's former trainer, to bring out his dog in him during his rematch against Oleksandr Usyk
The 2012 Olympic gold boy spent some time studying the unanimous points loss with Mike Tyson, his former trainer, and then did padwork with the 63 year-old.
Shields, a respected veteran, is currently guiding WBC Middleweight Champ Jermall Charlo. He claims Joshua wants to tap into the beast in him to avenge his last toothless performance.
The Boxing Voice was told by Shields that he said to me: "Listen, I know people don’t think I’m a dog. I’m just a boxer. Look, I’m gonna be an animal in this next fight." That was his statement.
He said to me, "I'm going to be a dog fighting, all I need is for you to teach me how to be the best possible dog."
"That was my answer to the question. My thing was, "Why did you box all the time?" He said that he believed he could outbox him and that was the game plan.
"To me, that was the wrong battle. Now he knows it was. He must already have the dog instincts to teach a man how to be a dog.
He said he had it in him. If things go well, I'm training him. Now is the time to show it. In the fight, you have to also show it.
"It's going be hard work. We sat down to talk about everything and everything went great."
McCracken's work in Joshua's direction has been rightly praised, but McCracken was forced to let two additional coaches into the corner following the June 2019 loss against Andy Ruiz Jr.
Josh was helped by Joby Clayton and Angel Fernandez in recovering his belts from the Mexican knockout Kubrat Pulev in Dec.
Some of the cheerleading and tactics captured on camera between rounds Usyk's final round left fight fans puzzled.
Shields revealed that Joshua has given him hours to just talk about sweet science, and he was surprised at his ignorance.
"NEVER TEACH THAT"
He said, "In the past two days everything seemed well. We talked for three to four hours, but the first day was a mere talk.
"We watched some rounds of the Usyk fight together, and I just pointed out some things I thought he should have done that he didn’t.
"We had a great conversation yesterday and today was even better. He said that I had shown him something and that he was not taught how to do it.
"It's surprising to me that a man who was the heavyweight champion in the world doesn’t know certain things."
Team AJ insists that no decision has been taken on the future staff. Joshua is currently on a busman's vacation to the USA, soaking up information from a variety of trainers and gyms.
Shields appears to be already planning a strategy for Usyk's rematch, which could end McCracken’s remarkable tenure.
Former featherweight stated that it was not the best game plan. He said that he did not fight like himself. He's a far better fighter than what was shown in the Usyk fight.
"I watched a few round with him and his staff, and I told him about some things. He said that it was what we should have done but that we didn't.
"When you have a plan, you must work on it every single day. You have to have it down before you fight. When you go in there, you will have to do the same things that you did in the gym.
"I don’t know their game plan, it was obviously not the right one. I guess he didn’t feel it was the right choice so this is why they wanted to make a switch."
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