Anthony Joshua risks war of words with axed coach by claiming he wasn’t ‘taught anything’ by him ahead of Whyte rematch
ANTHONY JOSHUA claims he didn’t learn “anything” under former coach Robert Garcia.
The Watford warrior, 33, enlisted the services of the multiple-time world-champion trainer after being taken to school by Oleksandr Usyk in their Tottenham tussle in September 2021.
Their partnership, however, failed to bear fruit as AJ was bested in a rematch 11 months later – despite turning in a better performance.
But Joshua doesn’t believe their brief partnership benefitted him in any way, telling talkSPORT: “I recall when I was training for Usyk, and I had Robert Garcia on board.
“The fight date kept getting pushed back and the general conversation in the Usyk camp was, ‘We need this fight to happen soon, because we don’t want AJ to spend as much time as possible with Robert Garcia.’
“In my mind, I was like, I didn’t feel like I was being taught anything, so I didn’t think it mattered if I spent a year [with him].
“I was still going to do my thing anyway.”
Joshua axed Garcia in the wake of the Saudi showdown and has since teamed up with Derrick James – the head coach of the undefeated Errol Spence Jr.
The former two-time unified heavyweight champion said: “With Derrick James, I soak up every second I’m in that gym.
“Whether I’m successful or not, [new trainer] Derrick James is the truth.
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“The time spent with him is very valuable. It all starts from the mind, it’s not just the mitts. He’s got a really good mindset.”
Confusion reigned in Joshua’s corner during his second showdown with Usyk as Garcia and trainer Angel Fernandez seemingly weren’t on the same page.
And AJ admits he only began working with Garcia after heeding the advice of Fernandez.
He said: “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.
“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.”
Joshua bounced back from consecutive losses to Usyk with a scrappy points win over Jermaine Franklin in April.
The Olympian will bid to secure a multi-million-pound December dust-up with Deontay Wilder by winning a rematch with bitter rival Dillian Whyte on August 12.