Carl Froch has fired back at some of the recent comments from former two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.

Both men had a long working relationship with veteran coach Robert McCracken.

During a recent interview, Joshua took a swipe at Froch while detailing his past working relationship with McCracken.

Joshua had worked with McCracken for the majority of the pro career. He parted ways with the trainer in the aftermath of the twelve round decision loss to Oleksandr Usyk in 2021. The British star would hire Robert Garcia, but then parted ways with him after one fight. Joshua is currently being trained by Derrick James.

According to Joshua, McCracken was not the type of trainer to teach defense and he used Froch's nose as an example.

"Rob McCracken's a really good coach, the only thing I'd say is look at Carl Froch's nose. He just didn't teach me defense," Joshua told Boxing News.

"And in heavyweight boxing, the level of competition I was facing at that stage of my career, I was getting hit way too much with clean shots. I was sparring Solomon Dacres... the tall six foot five guy, in Miami for [Andy] Ruiz, who’s five foot. Rob was in Japan for the Olympics. He only came back seven weeks before it. I just know it’s not good enough for where I’m at.

"Derrick reminds me of Rob but a lot more invested… Rob was too committed to the Olympic team, not pros. I gave Rob my best years, now I've got to dig deep to get them back."

Froch, a former super middleweight champion, fired back when discussing the relationship between Joshua and McCracken.

“People say Carl Froch doesn't have nice things to say about AJ because AJ left Rob McCracken. I've got two things to say to that 1) I couldn't give us a toss who trains him 2) AJ did not leave Rob McCracken, for all you know Rob McCracken left him. It was a mutual agreement, put it that way. AJ did not sack McCracken. He's the boss. Maybe things happened and Rob didn't want to work with AJ that's why that came about. In the build up to the first Usyk fight, there were many people around AJ, telling him different things, and I think Rob had had enough if I'm honest. I know the situation and I know for a fact that AJ did not get rid of Rob," Froch told Genting Casino.

“He wasn't listening to Rob before they split. If you're not going to listen and have that respect, then the relationship will break down. Rob knew that Usyk would be their last together. Rob's happy not working with AJ any more because he doesn't want to work with someone who's not going to listen. Rob's not just going to stick around for the money.”

“I think Simon's Jordan's right when he says criticism comes with the territory. You're the former two time heavyweight champion and we expect you to be in big fights and to perform. You're the big bad heavyweight who has a massive name, you're getting a fortune every time you fight, you have a duty to the fans and to sport to: 1) fight credible opponents and 2) put in a shift when you're in that ring. Get in there, believe in yourself and do the business. So criticism comes with the territory, Simon Jordan is right. All of it isn't negative though, it's constructive.''