Fernandez wants to be the 'best coach in the world' by training Joshua to beat Usyk 

As Nigeria born former heavyweight champion of the world Anthony Joshua embarked on a US tour, visiting the likes of Eddy Reynoso, Ronnie Shields and Virgil Hunter, few thought it would be prior understudy Angel Fernandez taking the reins from Rob McCracken and given the role of formulating a plan to take down Oleksandr Usyk.

Joshua was outfoxed by the dazzling Ukrainian who, having relinquished his full collection of cruiserweight titles, put in a performance for the ages as he showcased his largely unparalleled skills in front of a stunned and silenced Tottenham Hotspur Stadium crowd.

The Briton’s WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight belts were snatched almost without a whimper, with a 6ft 6in Joshua opting against using his evident physical advantages – advantages which brought him so much success while climbing up the ranks – as he looked to outbox the boxer. A naive move, it proved.

There was an immediate clamour for Joshua to part ways with McCracken, as there was in the wake of his first career defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr back in 2019.

This time, though, Joshua obliged. But, again, eyebrows were raised when the inexperienced Fernandez was announced as his replacement.

One man more in the know than most, however, is Frazer Clarke, who made his professional debut earlier in the year, having claimed Olympic Bronze last summer. Clarke, a long-term sparring partner and friend of Joshua, is also trained by Fernandez, with the pair working together at Loughborough University.

Clarke, speaking to Sportsmail, insisted Fernandez can play a crucial role in Joshua becoming a three-time world champion when, hopefully, the pair get it on this summer.

 ‘I’ve known Angel for a little over a year now,’ Clarke explained. ‘Even pre–Olympics I was coming down and doing sessions with him, once or twice a week, just to give me that little something different.

‘I was working with great coaches in Sheffield, but I felt after one session that he’d added something to my game.

‘I needed a change in environment from Sheffield, so coming to Loughborough University was the next best thing for me.

‘I can’t really speak on AJ’s relationship with him, but I see them in the gym and I see chemistry. It’s good work, very good work that I’m seeing.’

It comes after Joshua announced he would be moving away from long-term trainer Rob McCracken (centre)

What jumps out immediately is that Clarke has no ordinary fighter-trainer relationship with the Spaniard, largely as, like Clarke, Fernandez is very much at the early stages of his professional career, still finding his feet after landing a role many could only dream of.

In fact, Fernandez – whose first major role came with Isaac Chamberlain in 2018 - has himself revealed he wants the relationships with his fighters to go beyond a working one, insisting: ‘My job, yes it’s the boxing coach, but I go beyond that, I need to have that connection with them and that has to be getting into a friendship.’

And that’s exactly what Clarke has developed with Fernandez in the weeks and months spent together.

‘My relationship with Angel, it’s a funny one,’ he said. ‘I feel like in every gym, and with every boxer-trainer relationship, there’s different ones: there’s the father and the son, there’s the guy that puts your arm round you.

‘The reality with me and Angel is that we bicker a lot, that’s the truth. But we get the work done. When we’re in here it’s business, that’s what it’s all about, but we go back and forth. It’s all good energy, though.

‘When I say bickering, I’m not saying we’re going at each other, I’m talking pushing each other. He pushes me to be a better fighter, I believe me and the other lads in the gym push and encourage him to be the best trainer he can be.

‘That’s what I like about him as a coach: he’s not settling, he’s thriving, he wants to be known as the best coach in the world.’

Perhaps the biggest indicator of Fernandez’s talents is his current crop of fighters, with Richard Riakphore, who’s on the periphery of world level in the cruiserweight division, and highly rated youngster Kieran Molloy joining Joshua and Clarke in his Loughborough stable.

For Clarke, it’s his coach’s intentions which are most appealing. He’s not, as others are, simply in it for a quick buck.