Former Anthony Joshua trainer Rob McCracken suspects “a lot of work” is needed to prepare ‘AJ’ for his showdown with Tyson Fury.

The two British heavyweights are expected to finally collide in November, though their long-awaited encounter could get pushed back further yet.

And while New York has been named as the destination, according to several reports, there has been no announcement regarding a specific date and location.

It does appear that both fighters are inching closer towards their Battle of Britain, however, especially after having completed their respective warm-up fights last month.

On the one hand, Fury encountered minimal difficulty against Mariusz Wach, but seemed a shadow of his former self as he stopped the 46-year-old in seven rounds.

More alarming, though, was Joshua’s display against Kristian Prenga, who even managed to score two knockdowns in the opening round of their contest.

Joshua then stopped the Albanian with a signature finish in round two but, even so, it was hardly his most convincing performance as speculation over the 36-year-old’s punch resistance continues to mount.

Speaking with Seconds Out, McCracken suggested there is much to be ironed out before ‘AJ’ collides with Fury, highlighting his slow start against Prenga as a particular concern.

“If you start slow and you’re not out the blocks, you’ll get caught with a shot. It’s heavyweight boxing. People get knocked down; people knock each other down. You get upsets all the time.

“It wasn’t a good night at the office [for Joshua], let’s be honest. They’ll have to put it right and see what went wrong. They’ve got to get a lot of work done to be ready for a bigger fight on the evidence of that [performance].”

While he is now training with Iegor Golub of Team Usyk, Joshua had worked with head coach McCracken right up until his defeat to Oleksandr Usyk in 2021.