Former world champion Paulie Malignaggi has defended Anthony Joshua’s trainer Ben Davison – but is not convinced they are the right fit ahead of December’s showdown with Tyson Fury.

Davison will be in Joshua’s corner for the Battle of Britain on 11 December having previously worked with ‘The Gypsy King’ when he returned to boxing in 2018.

Davison trained Fury for five fights before the latter turned to Sugar Hill Steward, the man who has guided his career ever since.

Since parting ways with Fury, Davison has worked with some of boxing’s biggest names and cornered Moses Itauma and Fabio Wardley in their world title fights this year.

Both heavyweights failed to get over the line, however, with Itauma running out of gas in his IBF title battle with Filip Hrgovic in August, stopped in the ninth round. Wardley meanwhile was halted by Daniel Dubois in May with Davison forced to throw in the towel less than two rounds into the rematch earlier this month.

Davison has led Joshua’s camp for three of his last five fights – with ‘AJ’ briefly linking up with Team Usyk for his last two outings against Jake Paul and Kristian Prenga. Their last fight together ended in a devastating defeat to Dubois in September 2024 but the two have linked up again with Fury waiting.

While Davison’s methods have been questioned, Malignaggi rates him as a ‘good trainer’ – but perhaps not the right one for Joshua.

‘There are some mental games there, because Davison was in Fury’s corner for a while,’ Malignaggi told Metro via Parimatch.

‘But he’s also a good technical trainer. I don’t know that Joshua’s style necessarily meshes with Davison’s technical style. 

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‘Davison, for me, is probably a really good trainer for an athletic-style fighter. Joshua’s a bit cumbersome and stiff at times. Tyson Fury actually uses more of an athletic style as a heavyweight than Joshua does. We’ve seen Davison with guys like Devin Haney, and I think slick boxers and athletic fighters benefit from his approach.

‘With Wardley, I think he was always going to be up against it. With Itauma, how responsible can a trainer be for his fighter’s conditioning? You make them spar and get them sharp, and Itauma was sharp. 

‘But the fighter’s conditioning and heart are also on the fighter, and on experience. Knowing how to judge your gas tank and pace yourself for the distance comes with experience, and Itauma didn’t have much of that.

‘So I think Davison’s a good trainer. I don’t know if he’s the right trainer for Joshua, but it’ll create a talking point because he used to be in Tyson Fury’s corner.’

Joshua has worked with four different training teams in the last four years having parted ways with Rob McCracken after his first defeat to Usyk in 2021.

He linked up with Robert Garcia for his rematch against the Ukrainian before turning to Derrick James in Texas for fights against Jermaine Franklin and Robert Helenius.

His last five fights have been overseen by Davison and members of Usyk’s elite training team.

McCracken guided Joshua to his London 2012 Olympic gold success and remained at his side throughout his rise through the professional ranks, becoming a two-time world champion under his tutelage.

Their time together was the most stable and successful spell of ‘AJ’s career but former world champion Carl Froch fears Joshua has not been able to build the same sort of relationship with a trainer since.

‘I don’t think Rob McCracken would have him back,’ Froch told Metro via BetVictor Online Casino, having spent his entire career working with the Performance Director of GB Boxing.

‘That ship has sailed. Rob took AJ from the amateurs, Olympic gold medal, world heavyweight champion, and then AJ decided he needed to go somewhere else. That’s his choice, and if he thought Rob wasn’t working for him then fair enough, but you can’t always go back afterwards and expect everything to be the same.

‘Rob was more than just a bloke holding the pads, he was somebody AJ trusted and listened to. Since that relationship ended, he’s had different trainers, different voices, different ideas, and I don’t think he’s ever really found that same connection again.’