ANTHONY JOSHUA knows he has to be more clever to have any chance of getting revenge on Oleksandr Usyk and his heavyweight titles back.
The 32-year-old was dethroned of his WBA, IBF and WBO crowns last September in a punishing points loss to the Ukraine genius.
Anthony Joshua has been told to box clever in his rematch against Oleksandr Usyk
Ten-year mentor Rob McCracken lost his role in the aftermath and appears to have been blamed for the failed gameplan to try outboxing the more technical boxer.
And Mexican-American Robert Garcia has just been brought in to work alongside unproven Spanish coach Angel Fernandez.
And 47-year-old Garcia – famed for taking aggressive power punchers in the lower weights to world titles – knows it will not be as easy as just chinning 35-year-old southpaw maverick Usyk.
He said: “Anthony has the height, reach and power advantages but we cannot go in there thinking we can just get the knockout.
“We have to be smart and win the fight. We don’t know what Usyk is going to come and do.
“Usyk might come and do something that means we have to box more, you never know but we will be ready for whatever Usyk brings.
“Usyk is a great fighter and champion, I know him personally and how dedicated he is but we are ready to make AJ a three-time heavyweight champion of the world.”
Garcia – a former world champion himself – is most respected for his work with little brother Mikey and Marcos Maidana, two terrifying little men but almost half the size of AJ.
FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS – BEST NEW CUSTOMER OFFERS
And he admits he is facing a test to transfer his excellent skill set up to the biggest division.
He said: “These are challenges for me because most of my fighters have been at welterweight or under. Middleweight has been my highest.
“Working with bigger and stronger guys is a challenge that I have to get used to and I enjoy that.
“If everything goes well AJ will be my 15th world champion.
“It will be a great win for me and my first heavyweight world champion.”
