BOXING | TOM KERSHAW

Anthony Joshua’s back . . . but will fallen star ever rule again?

Heavyweight has moved to Texas and enlisted one of the world’s best coaches for what may be his last shot at redemption

Joshua put in a fierce display in his points defeat by Usyk last August — but his post-match meltdown told a story of a man at breaking point
Joshua put in a fierce display in his points defeat by Usyk last August — but his post-match meltdown told a story of a man at breaking point
Tom Kershaw
The Sunday Times

The gym where Anthony Joshua’s career as an elite heavyweight has supposedly been resurrected sits in a nondescript warehouse beside a metal yard along the Trinity River in Oak Cliff, Texas. Originally a custom furniture factory, Derrick James, a revered trainer who has spent the last six weeks leading Joshua’s camp, compares it to an oven. “It can get up to 46.1C,” James, Joshua’s third new coach in as many fights, says. “But my job is to push him past his limits. If I stopped where they were before, that’s all he’s ever going to be. I needed to push him into a situation where he gets stronger.”

Whether James can restore the confidence and conviction in Joshua that has dissipated in the three defeats