Anthony Joshua’s new trainer Robert Garcia says he wants to “hurt” unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk “bad” when the two meet in their rematch in the summer in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
AJ seems to be pretty bitter about his loss to Usyk right now, but that bitterness may not help him in the rematch. The fact that Joshua lost so badly was more of an indication of him missing two critical ingredients needed for a fighter to be an elite talent. To be among the elite, you need a champion and stamina.
Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) has a burning need for vengeance for being humiliated by the small heavyweight Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) last September before his fans in London, England.
Unless Robert Garcia can fix Joshua’s poor chin and stamina issues, there’s a good chance that he’ll lose to Usyk in the rematch.
It doesn’t matter how great Joshua looks working the mitts or the bags with new coach Garcia. If he can’t fight hard for more than a round or two without gassing, he will get another boxing lesson by the more talented Usyk.
AJ’s recent loss to Usyk has led to him upending his training team, giving the boot to his longtime coach Robert McCracken in favor of Robert Garcia & Angel Fernandez in hopes of those two saving his sinking ship.
If Robert fails Joshua in the Usyk rematch, there’s a good chance he’ll be speedily ushered out in place of the following magic savior that can bring AJ back to an earlier time in his career when he was winning with ease.
“He hates to lose. He’s thinking like a fighter. He’s thinking about going out there to do his job – to hurt his opponent, win, dominate, and hurt him badly. And that’s the mentality that he needs to have,” said Anthony Joshua’s new trainer Robert Garcia on his Unfiltered channel.
Robert Garcia’s problem with Joshua is that even when things were going well with him between 2013 to 2016, he was fighting inferior opposition in gimme fights. Joshua’s promoter wasn’t matching him tough against dangerous opposition that could expose him.
When Joshua was finally put in with the over-the-hill 41-year-old Wladimir Klitschko in 2017, he almost lost.
Joshua didn’t get beaten because Wladimir didn’t have the common sense to know that he needed to go for the finish after he dropped AJ in the sixth and had him badly hurt & gassed from the sixth to the tenth round.
“Who’s the most talented heavyweight? I’ve always said Anthony Joshua,” Robert Garcia said. “Tyson Fury’s a different beast, a different monster. Oleksandr Usyk’s very technical and difficult. Deontay Wilder has tremendous power. But overall talent, for me, I pick Joshua.”
You couldn’t expect Robert not to say that he feels Joshua is the most talented heavyweight, would you?
It makes sense that Robert will make sure he’s smothering Joshua with compliments right now, especially with his self-confidence shot to pieces after his losses to Usyk and the tubby Andy Ruiz Jr.
