Garcia on Joshua situation: 'I never pander to my boxers'

Robert Garcia expressed regret that his former ward Anthony Joshua took his criticism as a sign of disrespect. Garcia worked with Joshua last year ahead of a rematch with the unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia. Joshua performed well in the 12-round fight, especially well in the ninth round, but in the end he lost to the Ukrainian for the second time in a row by a decision of the judges.

After the fight, Garcia made several comments in which he openly criticized Joshua. Among other things, Garcia suggested that Joshua suffered a moral defeat in the tenth round.

It appears that Joshua never forgave Garcia for these remarks as he later decided to switch to veteran trainer Derrick James in preparation for his comeback against Jermaine Franklin earlier this month. Joshua ended up outplaying Franklin in London.

Before the fight with Franklin, Joshua stated that he thought his former coach had crossed the line in some of his comments. Garcia himself, in a recent interview, backed up his initial statements and justified his frankness with a desire to improve his fighters.

"I'm sorry that he feels this way. If he wants to get a truthful answer, I think the coach should tell him that,” Garcia said in an interview with iD Boxing. - He can only surround himself with sycophants. But you know what, it's okay when a coach tells you the truth. And the coach is a toady, then he is not a real coach. If there is no one around you but sycophants, then you yourself are nothing.

“As a coach, I have to say what I see and be honest. When a fighter says to me, "Oh, I didn't like your comment," what do you want from me? I could play along and just make money, and I wouldn't care about anything. There are some coaches. But I'm not one of them," Garcia added.

In addition to the fight itself, Garcia stated that Joshua's post-fight behavior was extremely unsatisfactory. Joshua sabotaged Usyk's interview after the fight, took the microphone and began to explain his defeat.

“After the fight, he completely lost control of himself,” Garcia said. - The way he behaved was wrong. And I'm not the only one who says this. Everyone was talking about it. I criticize my boxers to make them better. But he took it personally, as if I was talking nonsense. No! I tried to motivate him, tried not to let it happen. I hope I taught him a lesson."

However, Garcia is pleased that Joshua decided to take his advice and move his training camp to America. Garcia believes that Joshua's partnership with new coach James will pay off in the long run. James is best known for his work with unified welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. and unified welterweight champion Jermell Charlo.

“Derrick James is currently the best coach in the world, Coach of the Year. He has guys like Charlo who is the undisputed champion, he has Spence who could become undisputed in the next couple of months if Crawford wins. Hell, everyone wants to be with this coach because he's the best at the moment. He is in good hands, in a great situation. I know that he will train him well. He does what I advised him. He came to the United States and fights regularly - this is the best thing you can do for him. Let not with me, but he did it, ”Garcia added.