Champion Mentality Caused Anthony Joshua To Lose To Usyk In The First Fight, Coach: Now He Is Prepared To Win

JAKARTA - Anthony Joshua will face Oleksandr Usyk again in August in Saudi Arabia. Previously, Joshua had to admit Osyk's superiority at the Tottenham Stadium, last September.

However, this time, the British boxer will reply.

This was conveyed by Joshua's new coach, Robert Garcia. He said that Joshua's defeat in the first meeting was because the boxer was not prepared to win.

"You know? I don't think he (Anthony Joshua) was thinking and preparing to win the fight. From what he told me, he only thought about doing 12 rounds," Robert Garcia told SecondOut, quoted by The Sun.

"He never thought, 'I have to win the fight. I only need to go through 12 rounds.' So that makes a big difference."

However, Garcia admitted to instilling a winning mentality in Joshua. "Now, he is thinking about winning and thinking about hurting someone. That's the most important thing. He has to be confident in his team," continued the coach.

The coach claims that the former heavyweight champion has now improved significantly, both physically, mentally and skillfully.

"Week after week, we're seeing a lot of improvement in Anthony Joshua and the remaining five weeks of hard training. He's going to get better and better, so by the time the fight comes he'll be 100 per cent ready," claims Robert Garcia.

However, Robert Garcia continued to emphasize that as a coach he must also encourage Joshua to continue to awaken his winning mentality.

"He has to be with a team that wants him to win, wants him to perform, and wants him to be a little bit tougher. I think that's what I bring," the coach explained.

“Me and Angel Fernandez pushed him to be aggressive, to be a ruthless guy in the ring, to hurt anyone in front of him. He's been doing that lately, and I'm very happy and pleased with what happened."

Prior to appointing Garcia as coach, a week earlier Anthony Joshua exclusively told SunSport how he fired former coach Rob McCracken. He did that because his old coach didn't give him the right advice.