'I wanted to leave' - Garcia fires back at Joshua's criticism
Robert Garcia, Anthony Joshua's former coach, has responded to the criticism that he didn't teach the fighter anything during their training camp. Joshua sought Garcia's assistance after his first defeat to Oleksandr Usyk, with hopes of avenging the loss. However, despite an improved performance from Joshua, Usyk again emerged victorious via split decision. Following the rematch, Joshua parted ways with Garcia and joined forces with Derrick James. Joshua has since stated that he didn't feel like he was learning during his time with Garcia. However, Garcia disputes this claim and believes that the positive feedback from boxing experts after the Usyk fight proves otherwise. Many acknowledged that Joshua looked better in the rematch, showing improvements in his aggression and landing effective body shots.
“Every fighter, every person has an opinion. I remember after the fight with Usyk I heard nothing but good things from boxing people. Everyone calling me like ‘you know what, he looked better than the first time, he was a little more aggressive, he landed some good body shots.’ So I know that I did my job. I know that he did look better than the first time.”Garcia also revealed that there were issues with the training camp's setup from the start, and he nearly left before even starting. Despite these challenges, he decided to stay after discussions with Joshua's team. Garcia expressed that fighters may change their opinions, and if there were indeed communication issues between Joshua and his management team during their time together, it could have affected their collaboration. Garcia also hinted at other people involved in the camp who contributed to the challenges he faced.
“Fighters come from saying one thing to another. If we really had that situation, then the problem is he doesn’t have a communication with his management team, because when I first got to camp, I wasn’t very happy with what I seen going on in his training camp. I told his team ‘fly me home, I don’t want to be part of this’ and they convinced me to stay. So, if that was the case, I think Anthony should have said ‘let him go, cause I don’t wanna work with him.'” “I knew it’s not gonna work out because the way camp was going with other people that were involved, I don’t need to say any names.”Since parting ways with Garcia, Joshua has had one fight under Derrick James, securing a win. Garcia wishes Joshua the best with his new trainer and looks forward to seeing him in action against Dillian Whyte on August 12.
