Robert Garcia was full of praise for Anthony Joshua this week, describing the former unified heavyweight champion as a “complete athlete.”
Garcia replaced Joshua’s long time coach Rob McCracken for his ultimately unsuccessful rematch with Oleksandr Usyk in Jeddah earlier this year.
However, despite a somewhat improved performance after just one camp with Garcia, it appears ‘AJ’ is yet again on the hunt for a new trainer and will not work with Garcia moving forward.
Speaking about Joshua to IZQUIERDAZO, Garcia said:
“He is a complete athlete. He started to box at 18 years old and three years later he was an olympic gold medalist. That is something big, without having that much amateur experienced. Then he turned pro, and a couple of years later he was a world champion – that proves he is a natural born athlete.”
“He is an athlete that accomplished so much that he didn’t need to be strict in his commitment in the gym, in his training regime and in the election of a coach.”
However Garcia did hint that Joshua’s early success may have led to a touch of complacency in the most recent phase of his career, suggesting things came ‘easier’ for the Brit.
“Everything was a little bit easier for him than any other boxer, so that was something he got used to.
Because everything was kind of easy and quick for him, he thought that that was the right way to do it. That he didn’t need to do it in another way.
But when the time comes for this kind of fights (like Usyk), with fighters of a higher level, tougher fights, harder fights, you need a stricter camp, where he follows indications.
He is a dedicated fighter, he does and listens to what he is told to, but maybe he thinks that he was a champion without doing that much or without having that much commitment. But when you are fighting against opponents like Usyk, that is something different.”
Promoter Eddie Hearn has stated repeatedly that Joshua will return to the ring in spring 2023, however it is unclear as of yet who will be in the opposite corner.
A rematch with old foe Dillian Whyte has been heavily touted, with ‘The Bodysnatcher’ himself returning to the winning column against Jermaine Franklin last month.
Former Tyson Fury opponent Otto Wallin and Zhilei Zhang, who lost out to Filip Hrgovic on the Usyk-Joshua II undercard, are also believed to be in the running.