ANTHONY JOSHUA’s “mentality” won’t be changed by new coach Robert Garcia.
AJ appointed the multiple-time world champion coach as his lead trainer following his brutal axing of mentor Robert McCracken after his lopsided points defeat to Usyk last September.
The pair have been cooking up an aggressive game plan for AJ’s Saudi showdown with the unified heavyweight champion on Saturday week for the best part of a year.
But Usyk’s promoter Alexander Krassyuk believes Garcia won’t be able to instil a new mindset in the Brit, saying: “Robert Garcia is a very well known, very determined and professional trainer.
“And he has great experience in bringing guys to success, but he does not have experience with heavyweights.
“But that does not matter much because you cannot teach AJ anything new because he’s more than 30 years old.
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“It’s more about bringing out his advantages, pushing down his weaknesses. Mentality cannot be changed by a trainer.
“Your mentality is something you receive when you’re born and is formed in your family, in your childhood, at school and at college.
“This is what forms your mentality; your teachers, your friends, your relatives. When you’re 30-years-old, like AJ, you have a completely formed mentality.”
Although Krassyuk doesn’t foresee AJ significantly changing his mentality, he’s refusing to rule out the Watford warrior’s chances of reclaiming the belts.
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He continued: “So I don’t think this is a big chance he can change much in mentality, but it does not mean Joshua has no chance.”
Joshua, 32, tried to outbox Usyk in their sold-out Tottenham tussle but plans to get back to his old aggressive ways in their desert dust-up.
He said: “The goal now is to go back to basics and go for the knockout.
“I always feel, when I’m sparring or fighting people, I actually see their spirit get dampened.
“Honestly, when you’re looking at this person directly in their eyes and watching their body, you can read the body and punch after punch this person is slowly fading.
“Now when you’re boxing, the art of boxing is to hit and not get hit. So you’re kind of boxing to stay away. That’s not really my style.
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“My style is to be up close and personal and make it difficult for the person. So that’s the game plan.”
This story is in association with Vegas Insider.
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Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
