Anthony Joshua’s trainer Robert Garcia will look towards an “awesome” fight with Tyson Fury if he beats Oleksandr Usyk.
Joshua will look to regain his unified heavyweight crown on August 20 in Saudi Arabia when he meets Usyk for a second time. A win for the Brit would put him in pole position to lure Fury out of retirement for an undisputed title clash.
However Joshua's new coach Garcia has admitted Fury has not been brought up once during their training camp to keep focus on Usyk. “Right now we have to get ready for Usyk," Garcia told Mirror Fighting . "We haven’t even brought up Tyson Fury during camp, a fight with Tyson Fury of course it would be awesome if we can get through Usyk.
"But right now we are focused on the task at hand and beating Usyk. I know for me having a heavyweight champion of the world will be special because the heavyweight division is the biggest in the world and is the one that brings fans in to boxing."
Joshua was set to meet Fury for the undisputed titles last year with the pair having signed an agreement worth in excess of £100million. However Fury was forced to abandon his plans and stage a trilogy with Deontay Wilder after a court ruling.
Fury has claimed it would take £500m for him to consider an undisputed fight, but a meeting with Joshua would likely see him consider a significantly lower fee. Joshua must first turn around a second career defeat against Usyk, having overturned his first loss to Andy Ruiz Jr in the Middle East back in 2019.
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The British star came into scrutiny for the tactics he adopted in the first fight, so elected to part ways with long-term coach Rob McCracken after the fight. He then drafted in Angel Fernandez to man his corner alongside experienced trainer Garcia who has now relocated from the US to his Loughborough University base.
Joshua was unable to inflict any damage on Usyk using his trademark power and aggression in the opening fight. Garcia believes it was Joshua's mindset that prevented him from getting over the line last September. “To be a champion you need to have two of these things," he continued.
"Power, great dedication to the sport, also another key thing you have to have skills, heart and mindset. These are the little things that we need to work on. After the last fight that defeat may have affected his mindset and may have made him not believe in himself. That is the one thing we are needing to work on most. He has everything physically in his favour including his reach and height. Maybe a fighter in the past has been negative about himself but that is now mine and Angel Fernandez’s job to turn it around."
