Anthony Joshua visits Robert Garcia in trainer hunt

By Boxing News - 10/20/2021 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose: Anthony Joshua has reportedly visited trainer Robert Garcia in Oxnard, California, continuing his search for a new coach to help guide him to victory in his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk next March.

Since last weekend, the former IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) has already visited Ronnie Shields, Eddy Reynoso, and Virgil Hunter in the United States.

As of Tuesday, many boxing fans believed that Joshua, 31, would pick  Shields as his new trainer, but after the way blabbed about their meeting in an interview last night, it’s doubtful that he’ll go with him.

Joshua has been “babied” his whole career

“Wherever he’s at, he’s the star. He needs to be in a place where he’s a nobody where he’s not going to be special where he’s going to get his a** kicked if he doesn’t do right,” said Robert Garcia to ESNEWS about his thoughts on Anthony Joshua. “He’s been babied throughout his whole career, and he’s the boss.”

I can see it,  Robert Garcia giving Joshua grief during training, kicking his backside in the style of a tough NFL coach like Vince Lombardo or Knute Rockne. The next second, Joshua is gone out the door, heading back to the comforts of England to be trained by one of the yes-men, backslappers.

One thing for sure, though, it seems clear that Joshua WON’T be staying with his longtime trainer Rob McCracken, who was the captain of the ship for his disastrous fight against Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) last September.

The game plan for the Usyk fight looked like it had been written on the back of a greasy fast-food joint. Choosing to box the smaller, weaker Usyk instead of running him over was a crazy idea for the hulking 6’6″, 240+ lb Joshua.

It’s understandable why Joshua might not want to pick Eddy Reynoso as his replacement coach because of the language barrier.

Language barrier with Reynoso as coach

Reynoso doesn’t seem to speak English, meaning Joshua needs an interpreter there when communicating with him during their training sessions. Having Canelo Alvarez there might not work, as his English isn’t so great either.

Image: Anthony Joshua visits Robert Garcia in trainer hunt

The last thing Joshua needs is for Canelo to take something he’s saying literally and have him going off during a training session. Joshua needs someone that not only speaks English but can fix all flaws.

Reynoso hasn’t done a great job with former IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr, who looks worse than ever since he started training him.

Ruiz was dropped by 40-year-old Chris Arreola last May in his first fight with Reynoso as his coach. Also, if Joshua picked Reynoso as his new coach, it might be a bad deal if Ruiz is hanging around, asking him for a trilogy fight night and day. Who needs that?

Since losing to AJ in their rematch in December 2019, Ruiz has made no secret about his desire to have Joshua give him a trilogy fight.

If  Joshua was training in the same gym as Ruiz, you can bet that Andy would be hounding him for the third fight over and over. That’s the last thing Joshua needs when trying to concentrate on improving his game enough to beat Usyk.