It is rare for a trainer to attract as much publicity as his fighters. However, that is precisely what Ben Davison has succeeded in doing this year. For the uninitiated, Briton Davison is the trainer of heavyweights Moses Itauma, Fabio Wardley and Anthony Joshua.

Ben Davison’s profile as a trainer of heavyweights, though, really skyrocketed when he trained Tyson Fury from 2017 – 2019. During this time, many credited Davison for being responsible for The Gypsy King’s successful return to the ring after an absence of two and a half years, which Fury spent battling his demons and putting on weight.

Indeed, Davison was Fury’s trainer for his world title fight against Deontay Wilder in Los Angeles on 01 December 2018, resulting in a draw, and Wilder retaining his WBC title as the defending Champion. Fury performed well in this fight, proving that he is a talented boxer.

However, he felt there was something missing, and adjustments needed to be made. This fight demonstrated Fury’s skills as a boxer. The Gypsy King was, though, astute enough to know that just being a good boxer was not going to win him any rematch with The Bronze Bomber, famous for his legendary right hand.

Fury therefore changed trainer, enlisting the help of SugarHill Steward, the nephew of the famous Emanuel Steward, who had trained former World Heavyweight Champions Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko. The Brit did this in the hope that he would be not just a skillful boxer, but also become a ferocious puncher to combat the threat Deontay Wilder posed.

This plan worked. When Fury fought Wilder in their rematch on 22 February 2020 in Las Vegas, Fury beat Wilder by TKO in the 7th Round to win the WBC world title and the vacant The Ring heavyweight title.

Then, again with SugarHill Steward as his trainer, Fury successfully defended his WBC world title and The Ring heavyweight title against Deontay Wilder. This time, Fury went one better and beat Wilder by knockout in the 11th Round of their world title fight on 09 October 2021, also in Las Vegas.

Up to Fury’s last two fights against Wilder, The Gypsy King was not known to have the punch power to become a knockout artist. Under Steward’s tutelage, this situation changed, and Fury’s decision to leave Ben Davison was vindicated.

After Tyson Fury, Davison became the trainer of former World Champion Anthony Joshua. This is where things become interesting, as Davison was in AJ’s corner for his challenge for the IBF world title against then-champion Daniel Dubois. This all-British clash took place on 21 September 2024 at Wembley Stadium in London, England.

Joshua was having trouble in this fight, suffering knockdowns in the 1st, 3rd and 4th Rounds. In the break between the 4th and 5th Rounds, Davison seemed to advise Joshua to take a chance, coming out with the now-infamous “roll the dice” comment to his fighter.

When Davison was questioned about what he meant by this comment in a recent interview with the boxing commentator Spencer Oliver, Davison informed Oliver that the intention was for Joshua to throw a double jab and then a right uppercut at Dubois. Doing this, however, would leave Joshua’s chin exposed.

As the insightful YouTube channel Chris Talks Boxing explains, it would have been better for Davison to have advised AJ at that stage to stay out of trouble for a couple of Rounds, and rely on the jab, giving both trainer and fighter a chance to review tactics at the end of the 5th Round. In this way, Joshua would have conserved energy for the later Rounds, which was necessary, given that he had been in the wars up to that point.

As we know, however, Joshua tried to throw a right uppercut early in the 5th Round, but was caught on the chin by Dubois, forcing the former two-time World Champion to the canvas, and unable to beat the count in the same Round. It would therefore appear that Ben Davison’s tactics in this fight were at best clumsy, and at worst reckless.

Turning now to Moses Itauma, Davison has been his trainer since 2023, and was in Itauma’s corner for his fight for the vacant IBF world title against Filip Hrgović on 29 August at The O2 Arena in London, England. Up to this fight, Itauma had not been past the 6th Round in any professional fight.

Further, Itauma admitted publicly that he had not sparred 12 continuous Rounds, which is bizarre to say the least. On fight night, Itauma ran out of gas and lost to Hrgović by TKO in the 9th Round. In his recent interview with Spencer Oliver, Ben Davison mentioned that Moses Itauma is inexperienced, inferring that this is a possible reason for his loss to the Croatian.

As Chris Talks Boxing again rightly states, however, Itauma may be inexperienced, but it is his trainer Ben Davison’s responsibility to “manage” this lack of experience to get the best out of his fighter. Inexperience on the part of Itauma is therefore no excuse for Davison not preparing the young man adequately for a 12 Round fight.

Finishing with Fabio Wardley, Ben Davison was his trainer for both Wardley’s world title fights against Daniel Dubois this year. Both fights ended in TKO losses for the Ipswich man. Wardley lost his WBO world title to Dubois by TKO in the 11th Round on 09 May at Co-op Live in Manchester, England.

It was a respectable performance by Wardley. However, the rematch on 17 October at The 02 Arena in London, England was a much more one-sided affair, with Dubois winning by TKO in the 2nd Round. This last fight prompted former three-weight World Champion Duke McKenzie to go on the record saying that Ben Davison should seek help from “someone more technically minded” in training Wardley – hardly a ringing endorsement of Davison as a trainer.

Taking Davison’s record with all these heavyweights into account, it is clear that a pattern is emerging. The pattern is that Ben Davison seems unable to step up to the plate when it comes to training heavyweights for world title fights. Boxing is a results-driven sport, or at least it should be. In this regard, Davison has been found wanting, with one draw and four losses in all the Heavyweight world title fights he has been a trainer in.

This represents a 80% loss ratio with not one win. It is, of course, easy to criticize. In his last two Heavyweight world title fights, however, Ben Davison has thrown in the towel to save his fighters from further punishment. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to come to the conclusion that there is definitely room for improvement.

Ultimately, though, it is for Davison’s heavyweights to decide whether he stays or goes!

Romer Cherubim
Freelance journalist
UK