Robert Garcia pulled no punches when talking about the man he helped train Anthony Joshua in his second fight against Oleksandr Usyk, that saw him lose an unanimous decision victory yet again to Usyk.
“Joshua was mentally defeated since round ten or eleven,” Garcia said to Izquierdazo. “Round ten was a big one for Usyk. That changed the whole fight and mentally we were defeated. At that point, we were relying on a good shot or something like that, because Anthony is a hard puncher, and one shot can change a fight. That is what we were hoping for, one shot, because he was dominated at that point of the fight.”
The famed trainer who has been bestowed many trainer of the year honors over his decorated career in boxing continued.
“The fight was going well for us, but the tenth round changed everything. The last three rounds of the fight were the ones that changed the fight. In the ninth round we were close to winning, perhaps even by knockout. Through round nine, we were winning the fight on the judges scorecards, but it was decided in the last rounds. Usyk is a great fighter, with a tremendous heart, who knows how to finish strong, like champions do," said Garcia. “During that ninth round, me and the guys in the corner were telling ourselves that we had the fight. But nothing is secured until the final bell. Usyk came back stronger in the tenth round and that changed the fight."
For Garcia, who worked as Joshua's head trainer for the first time the fight just came down to one thing.
“In this fight, I think that Usyk was mentally stronger. I think he was stronger, to the point that after being close to a knockout, instead of giving up, he came back stronger. His will and his desire to demonstrate to his country that he couldn’t let himself lose the fight, made him come back.”
