"We never talked about him coming to train here" - Robert Garcia opens up on meeting Anthony Joshua

Anthony Joshua recently announced that he will be working with famed American trainer Robert Garcia to prepare for his upcoming rematch with Oleksandr Usyk.

Robert Garcia, a former boxer himself, has worked with fighters such as Marcos Maidana, Nonito Donaire, Fernando Vargas, Kelly Pavlik, Mikey Garcia, Antonio Margarito, Marco Antonio Rubio, and Victor Ortiz.

Garcia recently spoke to Boxing King Media about how the partnership came about. The two men met previously when Joshua was touring gyms in the United States. Garcia said that he spoke with the former heavyweight champion back then but that they did not agree to train together:

"We never talked about him coming to train here... we just met, we talked. It was more like just getting to know each other."

The decision to work together came at a later stage, he added. Garcia was then asked about Joshua's abilities as a fighter and what he planned to do for him. The trainer said:

"Talent-wise, I think he's the best heavyweight. He's very talented. But, he needs to be in a place, in a gym, with trainers, with other fighters, who are going to push him. He needs to change his attitude in the ring. He needs to be mean."

Check out the full interview with Robert Garcia here:

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What can Robert Garcia do for Anthony Joshua?

Robert Garcia has trained 14 world champions so far. In addition to the fighters named previously, his fighters have included Chris Algieri, Mia St. John, Brandon Rios, Hernán Márquez, Steven Luevano, Brian Viloria, Joan Guzmán, Abner Mares, and Evgeny Gradovich.

Anthony Joshua was outboxed by Andy Ruiz in their first fight. Though he defeated him in the rematch, it was likely the vulnerabilities that he showed in the first meeting which Oleksandr Usyk exploited last year. When they met in the ring, Usyk outboxed the British fighter and controlled almost the entire fight.

In his interview with Boxing King Media, Garcia said that his gym is a place where Joshua needs to develop a new mentality - a 'killer instinct':

"It sounds bad to say it but in the ring you want to hurt your opponent... it's a dangerous sport - it's dangerous. But, going into the ring, you can't feel sorry... that's the mentality that Anthony needs, that killer mentality."

More than working on Joshua's boxing skills, then, it seems that Garcia will attempt to change Joshua's attitude towards the fight game.