Anthony Joshua has confirmed he won’t train under Ben Davison ahead of his upcoming fight against Jake Paul in December but will instead prepare with members of Oleksandr Usyk’s team.
Joshua (28-4, 24 KOs) will face Paul (12-1, 7 KOs) in a professional, eight-round heavyweight fight on Dec. 19 at the Kaseya Center in Miami.
The Brit hasn’t fought since his Round 5 knockout loss to Daniel Dubois in September 2024, having had elbow surgery earlier this year.
At a pre-fight news conference on Friday, Joshua confirmed he has been training at the base of heavyweight champion Usyk in Spain and will do so ahead of the fight against Paul, rather than with Davison in the UK.
Joshua has worked with Davison — a former coach of Tyson Fury — since the build-up to his fight against Otto Wallin in 2023.
“I won’t be trained by Ben Davison, I said that London’s a bit distracting for me so I was invited to train with team Usyk. I’ve been in Spain, we’ve been doing some good training,” Joshua said.
“He’s [Usyk] one of the best in the world. It’s not just down to him, it’s down to his team that’s around him. I linked up with them, getting an insight into how someone has achieved so much.
“It’s been phenomenal man. It’s been a great experience and it’s very challenging.”
While he said he has not sparred Usyk, Joshua confirmed the Ukrainian has been in and out of camp in the past two months.
Joshua has fought Usyk twice, suffering back-to-back points defeats in 2021 and 2022.
The former Olympic gold medallist insisted he is taking the fight against Paul, who has had just 13 fights, seriously and will look to make a statement when they come together in the ring.
“I’m going to break his face, I’m going to break his body up, I’m going to stomp all over him,” Joshua said. “That’s my mentality, that’s a fighter’s menality. I know what’s in my heart, what’s in my mind. I’m here to compete.”
Paul was ultra-confident he could cause a huge upset, predicting he would knock Joshua out in “Round 4 or 5.”