Former coach of the current world champion in three versions in the heavyweight division (over 90.7 kg) Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) James Ali Bashir in
conversation discussed with the British blogger Usyk’s today’s rematch against the former unified British champion Anthony Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs).
Bashir believes that Joshua took a big risk with the choice of a new head coach and in any case will pay a big price for his choice, and in Usyk the American coach sees a special fighter.
“I think Joshua made a very, very risky decision and chose Robert Garcia. Robert Garcia has never coached a heavyweight in his entire career. Training a bantamweight, featherweight, welterweight, it’s all shit different when you’re training heavyweights. For those who are above 90 kg, everything is different. Striking, moving, timing, everything is different. And I think he made a very risky choice choosing Robert Garcia before the biggest fight of his career. I think you will see it in combat. As soon as there is some difficulty in the corner between Joshua and Robert Garcia, you will see the difference between an experienced coach and a novice coach. In this case, I think Robert Garcia is a rookie coach. I’m not disrespecting Garcia in any way here, it’s just too risky a situation where he trains a heavyweight. One of my mentors told me. It was either Emmanuel Steward or Tommy Parks or Georgie Benton. They’d say, “You don’t have to push your luck in a heavyweight fight, because when heavyweights come out, it’s all about boxing. You can’t take chances with new coaches in high-level heavyweight fights.”
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“In Usyk, I saw something special. When I was preparing it from the very beginning, this guy came into the hall and instead of warming up, he walked on the palms of his hands with his legs up. He walked on his hands in the Kiev hall – and did it for 5-6 minutes. I don’t know of any other fighter in my 53 year history that has ever done this or even thought about it. Let me remind you that he was always under 100 kg.”
“He did it to avoid the psychology of a boxer. Joshua has to break it. Having lost the first fight to Usyk, he gave life to Oleksandr Usyk. Because Oleksandr Usyk believes that he already belongs to this division. Usyk beat him once and put it into the song. Here’s a song [имитирует]. It was the song of the Cossacks. Song for battle. With this, he announced that he was ready for the fight, he was looking forward to it. This will be a fight to the death. Here is what he wanted to say. I believe it’s all his insides. I expect a really good fight, but I don’t expect it to last the whole distance.”
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“I think if Joshua is comfortable, he can give a good fight. But if he becomes uncomfortable, it can become a huge crisis in his corner. I like both fighters and I’m glad I don’t train either of them because it would be difficult for me. But if Joshua chose me as a trainer, he would have a better chance of beating Usyk, because I believe that I know Usyk as a boxer better than anyone else. In his personal life, maybe someone else knows him better than I do, but as a boxer, I think I know him better than others. I believe I can analyze it better than anyone else.”
“Joshua is just trying his luck. Maybe his bet will work, but I tell you – even if he beats Usyk, he will pay a huge price. He will take a lot of hits in this fight because Robert Garcia, once again, has never trained a heavyweight. I would never let a beginner come and cook me. No, it’s too difficult.”
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