ANTHONY JOSHUA snapped up Tyson Fury’s old trainer to return him to his vicious best.
And he hopes doing a better job than Fury did against Francis Ngannou in October will finally secure their fantasy all-English heavyweight showdown.
When the Watford ace, 34, took a Riyadh rumble with Otto Wallin on six weeks’ notice, he moved in with Fury’s former coach Ben Davison.
Davison, 27, brought out the vintage best in AJ, who smashed the Swede’s nose and cheekbone to smithereens in five rounds during last month’s Saudi Arabia fight.
The reward — after Deontay Wilder was beaten by Joseph Parker on that undercard to KO their shootout — is a March 8 battle with ex-UFC heavyweight champ Ngannou, 37.
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That is just three weeks after WBC king Fury and WBA, IBF and WBO boss Oleksandr Usyk decide an undisputed ruler on February 17.
And new-look Joshua will have his eyes on the four-belt clash knowing another spectacular win of his own could convince the new Saudi shot-callers to finally make him and Fury happen.
AJ said: “The reason I was able to gel with Ben is because he doesn’t try to change your style.
“He just kind of looks at your attributes and then adds to what you are good at.
“I got to a stage where I was trying to change my style — a bit of back-foot-boxing, boxing behind the jab, stick-and-move, not being explosive, controlling the pace, and stuff like that.
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“But Ben was like, ‘That’s not your body type. You’re a f***ing big unit, you’re explosive, go and f***ing knock people out’.
“Basically, work to your body type. So, we got along. He gets it.
“I am a power puncher. I break eye sockets. I broke Wallin’s nose and eye socket, Robert Helenius just got sparked out.
“I ruined Dillian Whyte’s career with an uppercut, the list goes on. Ngannou has to deal with me and that will make it a good fight.
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“I will have a one-track mind, it will just be bam-bam-bam-bang.
“A good performance is a boring fight as the better fighter is totally dominant. I don’t want a slugfest, I don’t want to swap punches and think, ‘What the f*** am I supposed to do?’ I don’t want to take ten rounds to land a knockout shot.”
Davison rocketed to prominence as he became Fury’s saviour when everyone else had given up on him.
After a doping rap in 2016, a mental health breakdown that drove him into temporary retirement and ballooning to 28 stone, it was Davison who moved into Fury’s family home and coaxed him back into the fight business.
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Now British fight fans could get excited that the Davison derby, between his giant students past and present, might finally happen.
AJ added: “There are two fights people want me to have, Wilder and Fury, and they haven’t happened yet.
“People want to see it in the UK — me and Fury. As long as we get the fight, that’s the main thing.”
