Former undisputed heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis has offered a blunt assessment of Anthony Joshua’s performance against Andy Ruiz Jr.
Joshua was stopped in seven rounds by Ruiz Jr at Madison Square Garden on June 1 after being on the canvas four times.
The last man to become undisputed heavyweight champion said he wants to see Joshua evolve as a fighter and part of that involves getting a new trainer.
“I was really surprised. I was in disbelief,” Lewis told Premier Boxing Champions’ Inside PBC Boxing show on FOX via satellite link.
“Joshua went into the fight wrong. He didn’t really look prepared. He wasn’t prepared for what Ruiz had to offer. It’s about doing your homework on this guy.
“He’s a banger, and he’s got fast feet and fast hands. There’s a certain way you prepare for these guys.”
Lewis called on Joshua to reassess his training team, particularly coach Robert McCracken.
“You can’t go to university with your third-grade teacher,” Lewis said.
“I started out and I had a trainer who taught me the basics. When he didn’t have any more to teach me, he brought me to another trainer in Toronto. He taught me the European style.
“I then graduated through three more teachers as a professional. Each one of these trainers taught me something. You then put them all together, which made me.
“If he wants to stay with that coach, well that coach is limited. He was limited as a boxer, also. There are other trainers out there that know a lot more, you know the old school trainers.
“(Trainers like) Emanuel Steward, who was the best coach. He would dissect fighters. I think he was lacking (a trainer like) that.
“I could sit here and say a lot. But they’ve got their way of training and believe in that way. It’s worked that way for a while but now I don’t think it works for them.”
