Anthony Joshua has revealed why he sacked Robert McCraken in an in-depth interview with the Telegraph.
The former heavyweight champion reveals the reason was that his corner did not tell him he was losing during his fight with Oleksandr Usyk. Joshua lost the bout by unanimous decision 113-115, 112-117, 112-116 on the judge’s scorecards, in September 2021.
Joshua is now trained by American trainer Robert Garcia, a former super feather world champion and brother to Mikey Garcia. Garcia was voted ring magazine trainer of the year in 2011 and is highly respected. However, if Joshua is to beat Usyk in the rematch, it will land Garcia his first heavyweight world champion.
Joshua stated he felt he was winning the first fight with Usyk “I swear I thought I was. I thought I was looking like Muhammad Ali in there. Throughout the fight, I thought I was winning but at that stage, I kind of knew it was close. I thought I was well in the fight because there wasn’t any communication as to where I was at”
In the interview, Joshua revealed a switch to American styles and coaching should have come sooner, however, he refused to blame anyone for the defeat to Usyk. “I’m not blaming anyone by saying that, but I didn’t get the impression I was losing. That’s why when they announced the name I was kind of like ‘huh?'”. “Now when I watch it back I think I lost the fight by three rounds”.
In the interview, Joshua appears determined to grow his skill-set and win his WBA, WBO, IBF, and IBO belts back, he also hinted we may see a more front-footed and ferocious Joshua in the rematch.
“One of my strengths is my power but I wanted to go down the path of being a clean boxer, hit and not get hit, especially if I want to go on and have a long and successful career”
He added “You need to have a good defence but I moved away from the ferocious side of boxing where I knew I could hit and stun people. And I do miss the days of slicing people’s faces open and hurting them, for sure. So I am looking forward to getting back to that”
One thing is for sure Usyk is an elite technician and will have the tools to use an overly aggressive fighter to his advantage, so Joshua is going to need aggression and smarts to get the win in the rematch, but he seems mightly determined to make any adaptions and changes necessary to get there.
