Anthony Joshua believes Robert Garcia was the standout option to replace Rob McCracken after touring US gyms last year.
Joshua is preparing for his redemption mission against Usyk this summer after losing his unified heavyweight world titles last September. 'AJ' began training with promoted coach Angel Fernandez after parting ways with long-term trainer McCracken in the aftermath of his loss.
Last year, the former two-time champion began touring a whole host of US gyms to search for a new addition to his corner team, meeting the likes of Canelo Alvarez's trainer Eddy Reynoso and Joshua Buatsi's trainer Virgil Hunter. However, after consulting a wide range of experienced mentors, Joshua selected Garcia to add to his team and he joined up with the heavyweight at Loughborough University for a training camp.
The 32-year-old believes Garcia is the "bad boy" addition he needed to his corner in his first move away from his long-term Sheffield base. "Texas, Fresno, LA, I saw a lot of coaches everywhere before choosing my new trainer – and there were coaches that I didn’t get to see – but he was the standout. Robert Garcia is a bad boy coach," Joshua told JD Sports.
"All these heavyweights are training because they want to take what you have so you have to train like you haven’t got anything. As a fighter, it’s important to stay in the gym all year round and I’ve known the fighter I’m fighting, so the approach to the fight has been leading towards the date.
"When I first turned pro, I did my first few training camps in Eddie’s [Hearn] back garden. That’s where we first started. Then, I moved to Tony Sims’ gym, for probably the first two or three fights, and then after that, I was allowed to train in Sheffield. I’ve been a pro for nine years, so for about seven or eight years I’ve been in Sheffield and this is my first time training out of there, but for 11 years, I trained with Rob [McCracken]."
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Garcia travelled over to the UK in secret several months ago to begin work with Joshua, who has now flown out to Jeddah to continue to sharpen his tools as the rematch with Usyk looms. It is likely the pair will be working on adopting a more aggressive gameplan after the Watford native faced widespread criticism for moving away from his trademark powerful performances.
Joshua believes he had too many voices in his corner during his defeat and is ready to receive more clear advice next month. "There was a lot going on in the corner and that didn’t help," Joshua said. "A corner is like a pitstop. You’ve got probably 55 seconds in total to calm down, hydrate, simple instructions.
"Too many voices at once is definitely not good for anybody, not just me. It wasn’t like ‘take the fight to this f***** , listen you’re losing the fight’, no."
