Anthony Joshua has responded to criticism from former trainer Robert Garcia ahead of his comeback bout against Jermaine Franklin this weekend.
Garcia trained ‘AJ’ for his unsuccessful rematch with Oleksandr Usyk last August, and has claimed Joshua was difficult to work with in recent interviews.
This is in direct contrast with the words of Derrick James, who has sang the former world champion’s praises since the pair linked up at the start of this year.
When asked about the conflicting comments from the two coaches, Joshua told media at the fight week launch event that he trains hard regardless of who the trainer is.
“Garcia said the complete opposite about me! He said that I’m hard to work with, I dictate my training, this that. So that’s interesting.”
“I work hard under every coach I work with.”
With this weekend’s fight widely considered make or break for Joshua, fans will hope he has left no stone unturned as he prepares for former Dillian Whyte foe Franklin.
‘The 989 Assassin’ put in a better performance than expected against Whyte last November, with some observers even of the opinion he was hard done by not to get the decision.
Reports of a fresh legal battle with promoter Dmitry Salita are hardly ideal for a man going into the biggest fight of his life, but the American will still step into the 02 Arena on Saturday with all the confidence in the world he can upset the applecart.
However, Joshua goes into the contest a firm favourite to defeat Franklin and help propel him back towards the elite names in the blue ribbon division.
Promoter Eddie Hearn has stated a desire to make a mega fight with Tyson Fury later in the year. However, given recent events, fans should perhaps not hold their breath on this one.