Anthony Joshua insists he is still pals with ex-coach Rob McCracken despite brutally axing him after Usyk defeat

ANTHONY JOSHUA insists he and former coach Rob McCracken are still on good terms despite their split.

The Watford warrior ditched his former long-time trainer after his lopsided points defeat by Oleksandr Usyk last September and has since handed the reins to decorated American coach Robert Garcia.

Anthony Joshua was schooled by Oleksandr Usyk in their Tottenham tussle last yearCredit: GETTY

Joshua axed former long-time trainer Rob McCracken after the lopsided defeatCredit: GETTY

But AJ insists the pair are still on good termsCredit: GETTY

AJ, 32, didn’t take the decision to part ways with McCracken – who guided him to Olympic gold at London 2012 – lightly and still has the utmost respect for his former mentor.

He said: “Shoutout to [former coach] Rob McCracken and all the team up there as well, I respect him and everything that we’ve achieved, so there’s no love lost (sic).

“But I need to make some sort of important decisions for myself as well.

“Yeah, it’s new, it’s something different, but the objective is the same: to win a fight, to look at your opponent and take something away from them, a bit of their spirit when you’re in the ring.”

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AJ warned to ‘let his hands go’ and be ‘aggressive’ in crunch Usyk rematch

Joshua shopped around for a new coach during a trip to America last autumn but settled on 14-time world champion coach Garcia after two secret training stints in the UK.

The former two-time unified heavyweight champion said: “Robert Garcia’s a good man. Straight after the [first fight], I spent time in America.

“It’s something I should have done early in my career. So, young fighters coming up: Go to the States, get out there, travel.

“Branching out has been good with Robert Garcia.”

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Fury warns Joshua that Usyk is ‘too cute, smart and quick’ for Brit rival

Joshua is confident the lessons he learned from his schooling at the hands of Usyk – and the addition of Garcia – will guide him to a stoppage victory in their Saudi showdown.

He said: “Um… I could say that, but I didn’t come out victorious last time.

“But 12 rounds in the bank is good, good footage to watch, but every fight is different.

“No matter how many videos you’ve watched, how many staredowns you’ve had, no matter how many press conferences you’ve done, it’s just completely different in the ring.

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“Twelve rounds is good, but you can’t take too much away from it. You’ve got to be in the moment; what happened then is in the past, I don’t really live in the past.

“I’ll be looking forward to competing round by round. If I follow my As, Bs and Cs, it should lead me to KO.”

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Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk

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