Robert Garcia, trainer for Anthony Joshua in his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk, claims that he and his team did a “great job” helping the Brit prepare for the fight, despite returning home from Saudi Arabia without the belts.
In an interview with Fight Hub TV, Garcia said that, since given corner duties, he was happy with the improvements shown by Joshua.
“The whole boxing world is telling me that he looked much better, that he showed a lot of different things that they hadn’t seen in him.
Our first fight together, rematch against Usyk, the most difficult fighter in the division and almost pulling it off, it says that we all did a great job. Not just myself, Angel Fernandez, the rest of the team and Anthony [Joshua] himself. It’s one of those fights where you hate to lose, but it leaves me proud.”
Garcia understandably feels that, had he been given more time and possibly even fights working with Joshua, the Brit could have won back his world titles. This has given the 47-year-old hope that he may be selected to train ‘AJ’ again ahead of the rumoured clash with WBC champion Tyson Fury, although, again, he would prefer to have more time to prepare the London 2012 gold medallist.
“Hopefully they use me again, after the first training camp, the second, third and fourth will be even better. I would prefer two or three fights, before anything big, so that we can get used to each other and learn from each other and then go after the big one.”
Robert Garcia knows what it takes to win world title fights all-too-well, having won the IBF super-featherweight title back in 1998 and going on to train the likes of Nonito Donaire, Marcos Maidana, Mikey Garcia and current super-flyweight champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez.
With a wealth of experience to back him up, Garcia believes that Joshua has what it takes to defeat ‘The Gypsy King.’
“His power is insane, his speed his great too. His power, speed, and the skills that he’s got, he could land solid jabs and he’s got that right-hand that he throws with so much power. He can hurt Fury, he’s been dropped, he’s been hurt. So why can’t Anthony [Joshua] hurt him?”
Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury is all-but-confirmed for December 3rd, but it remains to be seen if ‘AJ’ will choose to stick with Garcia as his trainer after suffering defeat in their lone fight together.