Anthony Joshua has split from coach, Robert Garcia as promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed the Brit is building a new team in the United States
The is not the first time AJ has sacked his team. He split from his long-term trainer Rob McCracken following his first defeat to Oleksandr Usyk.
Joshua’s bout with Usyk took place on 25 September 2021 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The Ukrainian boxer won by unanimous decision.
AJ immediately exercised the rematch clause in his contract and embarked on a Stateside tour to find himself a new coaching team following the humbling defeat.
He spent time with Virgil Hunter, Ronnie Shields and Eddy Reynoso but decided to partner with Garcia – who is a highly-decorated Mexican-American coach with a catalogue of world champions on his CV.
Rumours of a split was sparked after Garcia was mistranslated as criticising Joshua in a Spanish interview
Hearn confirmed the news when speaking to Behind The Gloves: ‘No, he is good. He is out in America at the moment working on his new team.
‘He is getting that together and then we will get an opponent sorted and the date is pretty much locked in. It is pretty much sorted and we are looking forward to seeing him return.’
AJ is said to have had his fair share of differences with Garcia and the pair did not always see ‘eye to eye’ in the build-up to the Usyk II fight.
Speaking to Behind The Gloves about AJ’s relationship with Garcia, reporter Gareth A. Davies said: ‘I’ve heard they haven’t seen eye to eye the whole time.
‘It’s a new relationship. In the second relationship, you’re working through things. That’s all really good news for me. They have been working on his confidence. Change the momentum from the first fight because it was the wrong game plan to try and box Usyk.
‘Be aggressive, be dirty, push him around, close down the space, let your hands go, but obviously with educated pressure. Usyk knows what Joshua is going to do. He’s going to let his hands go a bit more and be more physical with him.
‘He’s not going to stand off and try and jab him and close the space in that way. Usyk is up against a formidable Adonis, who has very heavy hands, a bigger, heavier, stronger man.
‘So, he’s preparing for that, and I think he’s wanting to maybe finishing the fight as well and fight fire with fire. He knows he’s got the tricky skills to do it. He needs to be strong in there.
‘Maybe he doesn’t want to go 12 rounds this time. I don’t buy he’s 20 kilos heavier, but he certainly looks thicker around the torso and stronger,’ said Davies about Usyk.’
Joshua is expected to make a return to the ring next year.
