Anthony Joshua has insisted that he only worked with Robert Garcia on the advice of his other coach Angel Fernandez.
Former two-time heavyweight champion Joshua, 33, makes his UK return this Saturday as he faces Jermaine Franklin at The O2 arena.
'AJ' hasn't won a fight since knocking out Kubrat Pulev over two years ago as he lost his unified heavyweight titles to Oleksandr Usyk in September 2021 and failed to win them back in their rematch last August.
Joshua was guided to Olympic gold and two world titles under former coach Robert McCracken, with the Brit bringing in Fernandez as an assistant coach for his first fight with Usyk. 'AJ' parted ways with McCracken for his Usyk rematch, working with McCracken and Garcia instead. The Brit has now explained why he is no longer working with either of the coaches for his fight against Franklin.
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"The situation I found myself in Garcia...I was actually working with Angel Fernandez and Angel knew that he needed to grow his experience so I left it with him to decide who he felt he would connect with best," Joshua told Big Fight Weekend. "I believe that there's not much point in the athlete in making a decision if the trainer doesn't respect the other coach in the room.
"Angel worked really well with Garcia and that's what it was, we brought him in for the Usyk fight and he did a great job. After the Usyk fight it's a new chapter so I had to go out and do what was right for me. I went out for myself coach-hunting around America and I ended up in Dallas, Texas."
Accomplished trainer Derrick James, who has coached the likes of Errol Spence Jr, will look to put Joshua back on the path to world title contention with a win against Franklin. 'AJ' is a fan of James' coaching style as the trainer has installed a "USB of boxing information" in Joshua's brain.
"It's hard to say because you take a leap of faith, so I'm not going to say I knew everything the first day I went with Derrick," he added. "One thing I like is he's about self-teaching. He is saying 'I need you to also train yourself' and I like that approach, he's installing a USB in my brain of boxing information. So when he's not there, I can switch that on and all that memory will be in my brain."
