Robert Garcia has responded to criticism from his former fighter, Anthony Joshua, and doubled down on his stance regarding Joshua’s antics following defeat to Oleksandr Usyk in Jeddah last year.
Garcia came under fire from ‘AJ’ for criticising his actions at the King Abdullah Sport City stadium, which many observers described as a “meltdown.”
However, the esteemed coach stood by his comments in a recent interview with ID Boxing.
“He [Joshua] could be surrounded by nothing but yes men, but the trainer has to be real to him. If the trainer is also a yes man, then the trainer is not a real person.”
“I have the responsibility to say what I see, and be honest with him. When the fighter comes out saying “I didn’t like a comment he made,” what do you expect me to say? I could be a yes man too, and get paid and not give a f***. There are trainers like that, but I’m not one of them.”
“After the fight, he totally lost control of his mind. The way he acted is not right, and I’m not the only one saying it – everyone is saying it.”
Garcia and Joshua only spent one camp together, after which the Brit decided to again switch coaches following that second loss to Usyk and is now working with Derrick James.
Joshua had his first outing under the Texan earlier this month, when he won a unanimous decision victory over Jermaine Franklin at the O2 Arena in London.
Despite prior claims from promoter Eddie Hearn that he would be back in the ring in July, the former unified world champion surprisingly took to social media to claim his next fight won’t be until December.