Noted UK trainer Ben Davison does not have a particularly high opinion of his domestic colleagues in the trade.

The 29-year-old Brit has emerged as one of the more accomplished coaches in the sport in recent years, and his relative youth does not exactly jibe with the traditional image of a trainer as a grizzled man in middle age. Davison’s best known client is unified 140-pound champion Josh Taylor of Scotland. Davison has also worked with WBC heavyweight beltholder Tyson Fury and former two-division titlist Billy Joe Saunders.

Responding sternly to the notion that he has not paid his dues and that he is simply the recipient of good fortune in getting the opportunity to work with such top names in the sport, Davison went so far as to take down British boxing trainers at large.  

“Not to blow my own trumpet, I feel like people go, ‘Oh yeah, he got to work with this fighter, he got to work with that fighter,’” Davison said on an episode of BBC’s 5 Live Boxing with Steve Bunce published Monday. “Why has John, Bob, Bill – who have been in [boxing] for 45 years – and have not coached these fighters?

“Because they’re not good enough.”

“They’re lazy,” Davison continued. “That’s the reality of it. I outwork them.”

Experience, apparently, in Davison’s estimation, is overrated.

“They might have 30, 40 years on me, but the amount of time I spent studying the sport, studying my opponents, studying my own fighters, details that we go into, it’s unrivaled work,” he said.

In addition to Taylor (18-0, 13 KOs), Davison is the head trainer of Leigh Wood (25-2, 15 KOs) and Lee McGregor (11-0, 9 KOs). Davison also works as an assistant coach for WBC lightweight titleholder Devin Haney.

Davison prides himself on the fact that none of his fighters for whom he has offered head coaching duties has lost a bout since 2016. He also notes that the fact that he has risen so quickly to the top of his profession is an indictment on the quality of boxing instruction in England.

“It’s easy to point the finger and go, ‘Oh, he gets to work with this fighter, he gets to work with that fighter,” Davison said. “Well, if you’re good enough you’ll get there.

“The reality is that the level of coaching is that poor in this country that I’ve been able to fast track. If all these other guys that have been in it 30, 40 years are good enough, they’ll be there [at the top], but they’re not good enough.”