Anthony Joshua sends warning to new trainer Robert Garcia ahead of Oleksandr Uysk clash

Anthony Joshua has sent a warning to Robert Garcia after revealing his reasons for axing Rob McCracken ahead of his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk. Joshua has explained he decided to replace McCracken due to a lack of communication and admitted that during his first fight with Usyk that he thought he was winning because his corner never gave him any indication otherwise.

AJ’s brutal call to remove McCracken, who had overseen his entire professional career and guided him to world titles, will serve as a warning to Garcia of what he expects come fight night. 

The two-time world heavyweight champion heads into the rematch with Usyk with a new head trainer in Garcia. The decision to switch up his team was made last month, and now Joshua has revealed why he opted to sack McCracken.

“There was a lot going on in the corner and that didn’t help. A corner is like a pitstop,” Joshua told Boxing Scene.“You’ve got probably 55 seconds in total to calm down, hydrate, simple instructions. That’s the way you should do it. Too many voices at once is definitely not good for anybody. I was being told things like, ‘Double jab, right, left hook’ it wasn’t like, ‘Take the fight to this f***er, listen you’re losing the fight’.

“Like, ‘You’re losing this fight… you’re down by two rounds’. I didn’t get that. I’m not blaming anyone by saying that, but I didn’t get any impression that I was losing the fight. I thought we were well in it. That’s why when they announced the name I was kind of like ‘huh?’

Joshua will square off against Usyk for a second time on August 20 at the Jeddah Superdome in Saudi Arabia. In their first contest, the Brit was comfortably outpointed by Usyk over twelve rounds in September as he dropped the WBA ‘super’, IBF, and WBO titles at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. A victory this time around would see AJ become a heavyweight champion for a third time, having lost and regained his belts against Andy Ruiz Jr nearly three years ago.