Anthony Joshua's new coach Robert Garcia first noticed the Brit's world championship potential when he fought on an undercard in 2015.
Garcia was in the corner of Evgeny Gradovich when he travelled to The O2 arena in London to face Lee Selby for the featherweight world title. And underneath him on the card, headlined by Kell Brook against Frankie Gavin, was Joshua's bout against Kevin Johnson, a tough American challenger.
Joshua was 12-0 at the time, and less than a year away from his first taste of world championship gold. But just stepping on the scales at the weigh-ins, Garcia claims that he could tell the Brit would become one of the world's best heavyweights in future.
Now Garcia and Joshua have teamed up as the Watford native looks to become a rare three-time world heavyweight champion in a rematch with Oleksandr Usyk this summer. He lost his title to the Ukrainian back in September, and has been named an underdog for the fight despite his physical advantages.
"Before I was even hired you could have asked me 'who do you think is the best, most talented heavyweight?' And I'd have always said Anthony Joshua," Garcia told Little Giant Boxing. "Since the first time I met him, I knew who he was because he won a gold medal [at the Olympics in 2012].
"But [Evgeny] Gradovich was fighting in London and Anthony Joshua fought on that same card when he was just a beginner. He was obviously a superstar coming up with the gold medal, but I didn't know who he was.
"When I saw him going up to the weigh-ins, the way he looked right away I could feel that, even though I didn't know who he was, he was special. Just the way he walked, the way he looked, smiled, shook everybody's hand, I said 'whoever he is, that kid's special'. Then I was there, I saw him fight, he took care of business and I've always been a believer in him because he's got so much talent."
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Joshua stopped Johnson within two rounds on the night, while Garcia's charge ultimately lost his belt. Within a year the Brit had beaten the likes of Dillian Whyte to become British and Commonwealth champion before picking up his first world title against Charles Martin at the same venue.
Since that meeting in 2015, Garcia has been banging the drum for Joshua, claiming that he is the most talented heavyweight in the world. That's in a class that includes Usyk and the other world champion Tyson Fury, who claims to be retired despite not having yet given up his WBC title.
"Fury is a different beast, a different monster," Garcia explained. "Usyk is very technical because he's smaller and fast, Wilder has tremendous power, so everybody has their own unique quality. But overall, for talent, I'd pick Anthony Joshua and another thing for me, personally is that he has insane power. He's got great power, more than anybody else I'd think."
