Anthony Joshua has been told to part ways with Robert Garcia after the coach claimed the heavyweight was "mentally defeated".
Joshua came up short in a revenge bid against Usyk in Saudi Arabia last month, losing to a split decision despite showing signs of significant improvement from the first fight. The heavyweight star had appointed Garcia to replace long-term trainer McCracken ahead of the fight, and the American was unable to conjure up a winning gameplan at the second time of asking.
And in an interview with IZQUIERDAZO, Garcia appeared to claim Joshua was "mentally defeated" by Usyk and it was also suggested he showed disrespect to Usyk when tossing his belts. And light-heavyweight star Dan Azeez believes it could be hard to repair their working relationship after the comments were aired in public.
“I don’t see them working together again and even him coming out now with the mental stuff," Azeez when discussing if Joshua will stay working with Garcia on Sky Sports‘ Ringside Toe2Toe podcast. "Maybe people don’t say it to him behind closed doors, but I think it’s something maybe they should have said behind closed doors not come out and say it in public.
“You’re already showing his weaknesses now. Everyone says boxing is 80 per cent mental. If your own trainer who’s spent how many weeks with you is saying he’s not mentally strong or insinuating that’s a big thing.” Joshua had shown signs of frustration after the final bell including going on a lengthy X-rated rant and tossing the belts on the ground.
Garcia worked with Joshua throughout his training camp and had even expressed concerns over Joshua's mindset in the build-up to the fight but planned to work on it from the first fight. However after suggesting that Joshua was mentally weaker than Usyk in his interview, Garcia has now claimed he was mistranslated and would not say that about any of his fighters.
“I spoke to a Spanish reporter that I know so I gave him a little interview, but from Spanish translated to English, they make it seem like, ‘Oh, Robert is talking s***’, pretty much," Garcia said when clarifying his comments in a conversation with ES News.
“I wouldn’t say that about my fighters, man. I’ve never done it before and I never will. “The headline is, ‘Robert says Anthony mentally beat himself’ but I never said that. I said that Usyk after being hurt really bad in the ninth he came in the 10th like that never happened, he came strong which you’ve got to applaud that.
"So that’s not saying ‘oh, Anthony was beat mentally’. Usyk came back strong and dominated those three rounds. I said, ‘Look, Usyk being the winner, the champion and Anthony grabbing the belts that’s disrespecting the champion’. But Anthony was frustrated. F*** he hates to lose. He came back and apologised and everything was good.”
