Anthony Joshua will reportedly be trained by renowned coach Robert Garcia for his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk.
Joshua has been searching for a replacement for long-time trainer Robert McCracken who came in for criticism after Joshua was outpointed by Usyk last September. The 32-year-old toured America late last year and visited several gyms, including Garcia's.
And according to ESPN, the American will travel to England ahead of Joshua's second clash with Usyk which remains pencilled in for July 23 in Saudi Arabia. Garcia was a world champion as a fighter, winning a super-featherweight title in 1998 before losing it the following year.
Garcia was also voted Trainer of the Year in 2011 after enjoying success with Brandon Rios, Nonito Donaire and younger brother Mikey Garcia.
Joshua and his training team came in for criticism for their lack of gameplan as Usyk comfortably won a points decision in London to become a two-weight world champion. The Brit has been working with assistant coach Angel Fernandez in recent months but has now added Garcia.
Joshua met with four potential new trainers last October, including Garcia, as he sought to make changes to his set-up. He also met with Eddy Reynoso, Ronnie Shields and Virgil Hunter during his time in the United States before settling on Garcia.
Joshua recently admitted he will work to a gameplan for the first time in his sequel with Usyk. "If I'm honest with you, this is the first time in my career I'd say we are specifically working to a game plan," Joshua said during a Q&A with the Oxford Union.
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"So it will all make sense after July 23. I've based a lot of my success on raw ability, with the right coaches, experienced coaches. But they probably knew I had ability. So, it's just about neutering that ability. What tends to happen is, we overthink things too much when there isn't a game plan.
"Because things don't always go our way when it's based on raw ability. So I believe when I start looking at social media now, you're seeing so many different aspects of training and stuff. So raw ability wasn't enough, so now I'm going to try out this new gameplan training and see how it goes."
