Anthony Joshua’s trainer Robert Garcia admits he would have liked him to have “two or three fights” before taking on Tyson Fury and has called for him to train in the USA ahead of the prospective heavyweight clash.
It was announced on Tuesday that Joshua and his team had accepted all terms laid out by Fury in view of a potential blockbuster all-British showdown on December 3.
Garcia was brought in to join Angel Fernandez as co-trainer ahead of the Oleksandr Usyk rematch, where he was beaten by split-decision in Saudi Arabia, with the American wary of Joshua making Fury his next opponent.
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Having recently spared Anthony Joshua, Richard Riakporhe believes the former heavyweight world champion is ‘hungry’ and will ‘shock the world’ if he fights Tyson Fury later this year.
“Look, it’s a huge fight, it’s the biggest fight in the UK and it’s a fight that actually needs to happen sooner rather than later,” Garcia told iD Boxing. “Would I prefer it to happen two, three fights from now? Yes, but it’s a big fight and it’s a big business.
“His management team is very smart when it comes to negotiations and the final decisions, so they’ll make the right decision. Me personally, I’m not a businessman, I’d rather him take two or three fights before anything huge.
“Anthony took the rematch with Usyk right away, when he could have easily taken two or three fights before that. He took it right away because he wants those challenges too.
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Head of Sky Sports Boxing Adam Smith says he is ‘pretty confident’ that Tyson Fury versus Anthony Joshua will go ahead and urges both camps to make the fight happen.
“If this challenge is there and he wants to take it, he’ll take it. He’ll go out and train and we’ll do our best job to go out there and win. The fight won’t be easy but is it winnable? Yes, we could win that fight.”
Joshua has wasted no time in getting back to the gym since losing to Usyk in August, while Garcia believes a pre-fight training camp in California would bolster his hopes in pursuit of regaining a heavyweight belt.
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Johnny Nelson shares his views on the potential fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua after Joshua’s management team accepted the terms set by Fury’s team.
“I haven’t talked to him [Joshua] about it [training in the USA], I talked to the management team,” Garcia added. “They all said they would like that, but at the end of the day, it’s going to be his decision.
“I think he would do so much better, honestly, training around Jesse Rodriguez, José Ramírez and all the young talent that I have. It’s not only that he’s going to train with them, he’s going to compete with them. They’re going to train together, they’re going to push each other and they all want to be better than the other.
“I think that would help a lot – I would love that.”
