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This coming Saturday, heavyweight contender Anthony Joshua will have a new man in his corner – veteran trainer Robert Garcia.
Joshua was trained for all of his previous fights by Robert McCracken. The two parted ways earlier this year.
Garcia has trained several top fighters and guided numerous boxers to world titles, but he’s never trained anyone to a heavyweight title.
Last September, Oleksandr Usyk outboxed Joshua to capture the IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO world titles.
Joshua will attempt to reclaim those straps this weekend in Saudi Arabia.
Garcia feels confident that he will revitalize the career of Joshua.
“I could go on with a list of fighters that have already been towards the end of their careers but then they come to me and I kind of bring them back to good wins, good fights. Some have even become champions after everyone thought they were finished. One perfect example is Abner Mares,” Garcia told Sky Sports.
“People told me just forget it, I took him on and we went on to win a world title together. When [Marcos] Maidana came to me, he had just lost the fight to Devon Alexander I believe and his manager told me Maidana wants to retire but he still has a lot left. We did our job but he also did his. He listened and once he found the hunger again, he paid attention and did what he was told and the results were there. He had a great win against Adrien Broner and then those two fights against [Floyd] Mayweather. We wouldn’t have had two if the first fight wasn’t so close. A lot of people thought we won.”
Should Joshua win the bout, Garcia would view the outcome as the biggest achievement of his coaching career.
Joshua, who was listed as the favorite in the first encounter, is widely viewed as the underdog for the rematch.
“These are the challenges that a trainer loves, especially a trainer that still has passion for it. Not to take anything away from former champions that I’ve worked with or fighters that we’ve gone against, like Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao but this event is just special, especially for me, it’s a heavyweight championship of the world. Not every trainer can say that,” Garcia said..
“I’ve had great wins but this would be the best win of my career as a trainer. Even though everything I’ve accomplished, this will probably be the biggest win. So I need it too, not just Anthony. Myself and Angel Fernandez want this. We want it so bad we worked very hard to make it happen.”