Tony Jeffires, the Olympic bronze medallist, 25, been looking for a new trainer since splitting with Bobby Rimmer in the summer and believes Tommy Brooks is the man to make him a world champion.

Brooks, 56, is best known for his work with Evander Holyfield who he is still training, but his knowledge of boxing makes him one of boxing’s most sought after trainers.

Other big names who have trained under him include includes Yuri Foreman, Junior Jones, Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, Mike McCallum, Hasim Rahman, Mike Tyson and Pernell Whitaker .

Jeffries (7-0-1) will train for fights in Los Angeles and return to his hometown, Sunderland with Brooks to complete preparations ten days before each fight.

The light-heavyweight’s promoter Frank Maloney said: “I have no doubt that Tony has made the right choice.

“Tommy isn’t just a coach, but also a teacher and that is exactly what Tony needs to help him develop.

“I have seen Tommy work with fighters and he is one of the best trainers in the world.”

Maloney has known Brooks for more than 20 years and wanted him to train Lennox Lewis in the nineties.

He added: “When Lennox was looking for a trainer I put Tommy’s name up and he was interviewed, but the feeling among some of the team was that he was too inexperienced at the time.

“There has been criticism aimed at Tony, but people need to remember that two years ago he has never ever been in a professional gym to train.

“He will get a lot of one-to-one coaching with Tommy and will come on for it.

“A lot of other amateurs who turn professional have spent months or even years training in a professional environment.

“I believe in Tony as much as when I first signed him, but this is a long-term project and the negativity from certain sections has to stop.”

Brooks began training in 1982 after a short professional career and married into the famous boxing family, The Duvas.

He said: “I am looking forward to working with Tony and I am sure that given time with each other we will form a good team and I can get the best out of him.

“From our conversations it is clear he is willing to learn and there is plenty to work with.”

Brooks served his training apprenticeship under greats George Benton, Eddie Futch and Archie Moore.

Details of Tony’s first training camp under Brooks and his next fight will be announced next week.