After scoring two early knockdowns, Wardley appeared to have little left in his arsenal beyond a looping right hand. He took a sustained beating before referee Howard Foster stopped the contest in the 11th round. Davison and his corner were also criticized for not pulling Wardley out sooner.

Then, in August, Itauma faced Filip Hrgovic for the vacant IBF title. Itauma looked levels above the Croatian for much of the contest, landing almost at will.

However, Itauma kept his foot firmly on the gas while Hrgovic refused to budge. By the ninth round, Itauma was exhausted and was eventually stopped on his feet. Davison was again blamed, this time for allowing his fighter to punch himself out.

Before either defeat, the coach had also been held partly responsible for Joshua’s knockout loss to Dubois in 2024. After a disastrous start in which Joshua was dropped three times in the opening four rounds, it was alleged that Davison instructed his fighter to throw a right uppercut from distance.

Joshua stunned Dubois with a right hand midway through the fifth and, sensing an opportunity to finish the fight, went on the attack. He threw another right hand that Dubois saw coming, and the subsequent counter left Joshua down and out.

“These are the top one per cent guys; it’s gonna be tough at the top; it’s gonna be hard; you might lose; you might win. For him to have back-to-back world-title fights like that – yeah, I come up short. The game’s the game. But the level of criticism to get for that is incredible in contrast to the actual achievement of what he did.”

Joshua has reunited with Davison ahead of his December 11 showdown with Tyson Fury. The former two-time heavyweight champion has returned following a brief spell training alongside Oleksandr Usyk under Igor Golub.

“My belief would be that, as a fighter, you know what works and what doesn’t work for you and he, especially Joshua – someone who’s bounced around quite a bit between trainers – so the evidence in that, the proof’s in the pudding, really,” said Wardley, pointing to Davison being the first trainer Joshua has returned to after leaving.

“He’s been bouncing around from trainer to trainer to trainer to trainer, and then has left one, went somewhere else, and gone, ‘actually I know where I felt best in myself and where I got the most out of it’.

And Wardley has already noticed a difference in Joshua since his return.

“He’s been back for a good while in the gym,” Wardley said. “It’s good to see him in the gym. He has a different energy. A different aura around him once he appears, and that gives the gym a little buzz and a different feel to it. He’s straight back in the mix and he’s shoulder to shoulder with the boys and normal like you’d expect.”

Fabio Wardley says Anthony Joshua’s return to Ben Davison speaks volumes amid criticism