Trainer Robert Garcia says Anthony Joshua and him are focusing only on their August 20th rematch with Oleksandr Usyk, and not thinking about the undisputed clash with Tyson Fury that could come later this year.
Robert believes WBC heavyweight champion Fury (32-0-1, 23 KOs) could get his $500 million asking price to drag himself out of his short retirement to face Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) if he recaptures his three titles from Usyk.
Fury has made it clear that Joshua is the one that he wants, so it’s possible that he’ll stay retired if AJ loses to Usyk. If that happens, we’ll likely see Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) defend against Joe Joyce next, while Joshua would probably wind up retiring.
With Joshua’s career sinking quickly, there’s a lot of pressure on the recently hired Robert Garcia to try and save it by changing his fighting style, and working on improving his conditioning so that he doesn’t empty his tank in his rematch with Usyk in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
“The heavyweight championship of the world is the biggest division in the world, and it’s the champion that everybody talks about. So, I think it would probably be the biggest win of my career as a trainer,” said Robert Garcia to iFL TV talking about his hopes for Anthony Joshua to defeat unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk in August 20th.
“We have to focus on Usyk because we have a difficult task in front of us, but obviously, yes,” said Robert when asked if he’d be looking forward to having Joshua battle WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury next if he defeats Usyk on August 20th.
“If we pull it off and win, I think Tyson Fury probably could get his half a billion dollars because it would probably be the biggest heavyweight championship of all time, especially here in the UK.
“Obviously, it would be huge,” Robert said about a fight between Joshua and Fury. “I can’t wait for it. If we get to that point, it would be awesome.
“That’s why I’m here and motivated to do it. That’s why I’m pushing very hard, me and Angel Fernandez, very hard because we want to have our first heavyweight champion of the world,” Robert Garcia continued about his hopes for Joshua.
“It’s been great,” said Garcia when asked how is his relationship with assistant trainer Fernandez working. “I think that’s one of the reasons they chose me because me and Angel connected very well.
“The day we met last October, we exchanged numbers and we’ve been in touch ever since. We both have the same ideas, and the same plans, and I think that made it a lot easier for them to choose me.
“Usyk is a very special pound-for-pound if not the best, one of the best in the world. We can’t underestimate that. He is very talented and very tricky also. He can change styles from one round to the other, so we have to be prepared for all of that.
“That’s what Angel and myself are doing in the gym. We have to have Anthony ready for whatever Usyk brings. It doesn’t matter if it’s me or if it’s him, for the ones giving the instructions, because we’re one,” said Robert when told that there was a lot of confusion in Joshua’s corner during his last fight against Usyk, with three different people barking at AJ.
“We’re on the same page. I’m not trying to do something different than he is [Angel Fernandez], and he’s not trying to do something different from what I am doing.
“We’re both on the same page, so at the end of the night, what’s going to make the fighter comfortable, we’re going to have one voice, so he can understand.
“If I say something, he’s [Joshua] going to listen to me, and Angel is going to wait for me. Then I’ll give Angel time to say something. We’re going to give the same instructions. We’re both on the same page, and we’re both working together and both working well,” said Robert.
