Anthony Joshua hinting about trainer change

By Boxing News - 11/08/2022 - Comments

By Charles Brun: Anthony Joshua is hinting that he’ll be working with a new trainer next year rather than sticking with Robert Garcia for another go after losing to Oleksandr Usyk for the second time.

AJ says he told Robert that he wants to be a “free spirit,” which could be seen as code to mean that he’s dumping the Oxnard, California coach in favor of someone else, yet to be determined.

You can’t blame Joshua for looking for new blood to help him resurrect his career because things are in dire straights right now. Dumping Garcia in favor of a different coach could be the answer Joshua is looking for to right his sinking ship.

Goodness knows, things are looking awfully bad for AJ right now, and it would be foolish to stick it out with Robert, hoping he can repair the holes in his leaking ship.

Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) is on a losing streak right now and appears to be hitting the panic button by hinting about going with a different trainer to turn things around.  We saw the miracles that a new coach did for Tyson Fury’s career.

If Joshua gets the right guy, he could have similar results and regain his perch as the #1 heavyweight in the division.

“In terms of Robert Garcia, I respect him a lot; he’s a really good man and a really good trainer. Will I work with him again? Yeah, I would,” said Anthony Joshua to Sporting News when asked about his trainer situation for his next fight.

“What I’ve said to Robert and his team as well I want to be a free spirit. I locked myself down for eleven years with one coach, and now I feel I want to learn as much as possible.

“Honestly, it’s not about the trainer; it’s about the fighter, what he has up here [brain]. I feel like I’m in the position where I can work with anyone. So who knows what will happen next year?” said Joshua.

It is important for a fighter to have a great trainer because it’s like ‘garbage in, garbage out.’ If you’ve got a coach, who gives you useless training advice, it’s not going to fix things.

“It will,” said Joshua when asked if a fight between him and Deontay Wilder will happen. “Probably, yeah [fighting Wilder in 2023]. We might be back in Abu Dhabi,” said Joshua.

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