After Anthony Joshua cleared out his corner following defeat, he took on a trainer with 14 world champions to his name
At this point Robert Garcia is no stranger to boxing’s biggest stages. As a fighter, the southern California native captured the IBF junior lightweight title and defended it twice before finding his true calling as a cornerman, where he’s trained no fewer than 14 world champions over more than two decades out of his flagship gym in the coastal town of Oxnard, some 60 miles north-west of Los Angeles.
Should Anthony Joshua defy the oddsmakers against Oleksandr Usyk in Saturday night’s rematch in Saudi Arabia and regain the WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles he surrendered in their one-sided first instalment last year, there may be no bigger difference-maker than the 47-year-old Mexican-American trainer entrusted with drawing up the gameplan that was so conspicuously absent the first time around.
