Anthony Joshua sacked his former head trainer Rob McCracken and assistant trainer Joby Clayton (and the rest of his training team) after losing to Oleksandr Usyk, saying he didn’t receive proper instruction from the corner during the fight in September 2021. Joshua believed he was winning the fight when he was, in fact, losing, so he didn’t change his tactics in the ring, which he says could have won him the fight.
Robert Garcia, Joshua’s new trainer, recently told Joshua that he must leave the United Kingdom and head over to Garcia’s training headquarters in California if they are to maintain a working relationship. This begs the question, is Anthony Joshua better off leaving his current training team?
Who is Robert Garcia?
Robert Garcia is an American former professional boxer who has since worked as a boxing trainer, guiding several of the sport’s biggest names to world titles. The 47-year-old was born in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, in January 1975, and throughout his professional boxing career, he had a total of 37 fights, winning 34 and losing just 3. 25 of the 34 wins were by Knockout (KO). He was a featherweight and super featherweight fighter, and he had a reach of 67 inches (170 cm).
In his early boxing days, he was trained by his father at the La Colonia Youth Boxing Club, and according to Garcia, he had been going there since he was just two years old. He once fought future Olympic gold medalist Oscar De La Hoya, and he is otherwise known as ‘Grandpa.’ Some of his most important career wins included being the NABF super featherweight champion, the NABF featherweight champion, and the IBF super featherweight champion.
Who has Garcia trained?
Garcia has trained more than 30 fighters, many of whom became champions in their respective weight divisions. There are too many fighters to list individually here, so instead, here are just some of the most notable boxers that Garcia has trained over the years. Don’t forget that William Hill boxing odds and UFC odds are currently available for one or more of these fighters and some of their upcoming matches.
In no particular order of importance, and not including Anthony Joshua, some of the fighters that Garcia has trained include the following:
- Christopher Algieri, former WBO World Light Welterweight Champion
- Felipe Campa, former WBC Youth World Super Bantamweight Champion
- Jesus Cuellar, former WBA Fedelatin Featherweight Champion
- Nonito Donaire, world champion in four weight classes
- Mikey Garcia, world champion in four weight classes
- Evgeny Gradovich – former Featherweight IBF Champion
- Joan Guzmán, former two divisions WBO World Champion
- Steven Luevano, former WBO World Featherweight Champion
Some of the other champions that Garcia has also trained in recent years include Marcos Maidana, former WBA Welterweight Champion and former WBA Light Welterweight champion, as well as Abner Mares, current WBA regular featherweight champion, Antonio Margarito, former two-time World Welterweight Champion, and Hernán Márquez, former WBA World Flyweight Champion. Others include Victor Ortiz, Victor Passilas, Kelly Pavlik, Brandon Rios, Marco Antonio Rubio, Eric Ruiz, Mia St. John, Mark Suárez, Fernando Vargas, Brian Viloria, and Jesse Rodriguez, to name just a few.
Should Joshua stay with Garcia?
There’s no real reason why Anthony Joshua should leave Garcia. The trainer has a good record, and his work ethic and strict training regime has helped produce lots of winners. Joshua would probably be wrong to cut ties with such a productive trainer, but if the fighter’s head isn’t in the right place, then perhaps he should try and find someone new to train with.
Upcoming fights in 2022
Some of the upcoming fights that you still have time to place a wager on over the coming days and weeks are the Tyson Fury and Dereck Chisora fight on December 3rd, the Naoya Inoue and Paul Butler fight on December 13th, and the Jermell Charlo and Tim Tszyu fight on January 29th.