Anthony Joshua’s former trainer Robert Garcia has denied any interest in one rumoured opponent for his ex-fighter, claiming that the fight should not even be sanctioned.
Garcia was crowned as the 2011 Ring Magazine Trainer of the Year, and has trained the likes of Nonito Donaire, Marcos Maidana and his younger brother Mikey Garcia since retiring from the sport in 2001. He currently corners unified champion Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez.
The former IBF super-featherweight champion turned coach was appointed as Joshua’s lead trainer for the his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk, one year after he lost his unified heavyweight crown.
The partnership ended after just one contest though, as ‘AJ’ lost a split-decision to the Ukrainian in the rematch after an improved but insufficient performance.
Joshua has since partnered up with Derrick James and now Ben Davison and put together a much stronger display under the latter last month, where he knocked out tricky Swedish southpaw Otto Wallin.
Now he is being linked to a fight with Filip Hrgovic, which could potentially be for a vacant IBF heavyweight title, along with a potential clash with Francis Ngannou, who knocked down Tyson Fury back in October on his boxing debut before losing by split decision.
In an interview with ES News, Garcia claimed that a potential showdown between Joshua and Ngannou is completely one-sided and said that it shouldn’t even be sanctioned.
For now at least, a match-up with Hrgovic appears more likely, but time will tell if the Ngannou fight could happen.
