Robert Garcia, the former trainer of Anthony Joshua, has speculated that “AJ” and Oleksandr Usyk, the current unified heavyweight champion, may face each other three times.

Joshua’s second tenure as champion came to an end in 2021 after just one title defense against Usyk, who also took back the WBA, WBO, and IBF crowns. The British fighter used his rematch clause to force Garcia to replace longtime trainer Rob McCracken in an effort to regain the belts.

Regretfully, Joshua lost a split decision in Saudi Arabia and was unable to reclaim the heavyweight title, even if his performance had improved.

Joshua is in a good position with the IBF and may fight called as a mandatory challenger later in the year against Filip Hrgovic, so he may get another chance to exact revenge for those losses.

Garcia asserted in an interview with Boxing Social that Joshua can overcome his opponent following his strong showing against Otto Wallin the previous time around.

He is the second most gifted fighter in the [heavyweight] class; he has enormous potential and is powerful and large. However, he lacked confidence, and I believe that his most recent victory over Otto Wallin gave him the confidence he needed.

“I wouldn’t be shocked if he defeated Usyk in a third fight because he fought well, even though he has lost to Usyk. He has to believe that he is the best.”

Garcia continued by saying that he thinks a big part of why “AJ” looked good the last time out was Joshua’s recent activity.

That activity, in my opinion, was the primary factor, and I’m happy that they increased it. The only thing Rudy Hernandez and I told him was to keep Joshua busy and to fight him again immediately away following the fight with Usyk in the locker room, which is exactly what they did. The best thing they could have done for him was to put him through three fights this year.

Prior to any potential trilogy match, Joshua fights Francis Ngannou, the former UFC champion, on March 8 and Usyk faces Tyson Fury on February 17.

Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou, who will shortly face each other, are already playing mind games. The former MMA star has made fun of the British fighter’s inability to land punches.

Ngannou’s second-ever boxing battle comes in a few weeks. It is slated to take place in Saudi Arabia in the early months of March, following his extremely successful debut in October against WBC champion and lineal fighter Tyson Fury.

He boxed well, avoided problems, and knocked down Fury in the third round of that battle. Since then, speculation regarding whether or not Fury is declining has abounded.

In contrast, Joshua had a successful year, winning three fights—two close calls and one on points during a 12-round span. Although both men are known for being heavy hitters, the 10-round match may not last as long as planned.

That is undoubtedly what Congolese-Frenchman Ngannou is alluding to in his interview with the MMA Hour. First, he addressed Eddie Hearn’s assertions that Anthony Joshua will make easy money from the fight—some believe it will bring in eight figures for both men.

“Eddie promotes people; it comes naturally to him. He always says the same thing about all of them. He acts in that manner. The deadline is set for two months from now, so it’s too bad for them if any of them believe it will be simple money.

Next, Ngannou made fun of Joshua’s supposedly weak jaw.

“I can’t promise AJ will get up if he gets the punch like Fury got. It has been reported that he lacks a chin. I’m going to investigate. I genuinely want to give him a loss.”

Nobody can question Ngannou’s toughness after facing Fury and Joshua in his first two boxing battles, that much is certain.

Robert Garcia, Anthony Joshua’s former trainer, has stated that the match shouldn’t even be approved and has denied any interest in his former client facing off against a rumored opponent.

After quitting from the sport in 2001, Garcia taught athletes such as Nonito Donaire, Marcos Maidana, and his younger brother Mikey Garcia. In 2011, Garcia was named the 2011 Ring Magazine Trainer of the Year. Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, the unified champion, is presently in his corner.

One year after Joshua lost his unified heavyweight title, the former IBF super-featherweight champion turned coach was named as his primary trainer for the rematch with Oleksandr Usyk.

However, the collaboration was short-lived as “AJ” lost a split decision to the Ukrainian in the rematch despite putting up a better but still unsatisfactory performance.

Since then, Joshua has teamed up with Derrick James and Ben Davison. Last month, in a much better performance, Joshua defeated the crafty Swedish southpaw Otto Wallin.

He is now being linked to a fight with Filip Hrgovic, which might be for the vacant IBF heavyweight title, as well as a possible matchup with Francis Ngannou, who defeated Tyson Fury in his boxing debut back in October but lost by split decision.

Garcia stated that a possible fight between Joshua and Ngannou is wholly unbalanced and that it shouldn’t even be approved in an interview with ES News.

“It’s an easy win for Joshua, it is a f***ing easy fight for Joshua.”

“Those fights shouldn’t even be sanctioned, honestly. Ngannou or whatever his name is, fighting [Tyson] Fury, the f***ing heavyweight champion of the world and it being sanctioned, that was stupid!

“Fury f***ing disrespected boxing by not training for one single day for that fight, he disrespected boxing, bad. It was f***ing embarrassing.”

At least for the time being, a fight with Hrgovic seems more likely, but only time will tell if the Ngannou bout takes place.

After a solid year of wins in 2023, Eddie Hearn has been discussing the the potential fighters he is looking to line up for Anthony Joshua next.

The last 12 months have been useful for Joshua following two points losses in 2021 and 2022 at the hands of Oleksandr Usyk. He got back to winning ways with a decision over Jermaine Franklin in April, then a knockout of Robert Helenius in August.

There was then an even quicker win over former Tyson Fury foe Otto Wallin on the Day of Reckoning card in December, his biggest and most impressive victory of the year.

That last win has led many people to believe Joshua is back to his destructive best. The original plan was for him to take on Deontay Wilder in March but, with Wilder losing to Joseph Parker, that fight has fallen by the wayside.

Despite missing out on that clash, Joshua is now looking ahead to a big year in which he hopes to become a three-time world heavyweight champion.

“Right now, we have three fights that we’re in discussions for, they’re all big, and that doesn’t involve Deontay Wilder for March. Our main aim is to fight the winner of Tyson Fury versus Oleksandr Usyk.”

He then listed the other options.

“Obviously there’s the Hrgovic fight out there, for the world heavyweight title, there’s a Francis Ngannou fight out there which would be colossal, there’s other heavyweights as well, the [Zhilei] Zhang fight with Queensbury.”

It was put to him that a rematch with Parker might be an option then Hearn summed up the main aims for Joshua this year.

“Parker is difficult, we beat him and unified, but that was five years ago. Joseph has earned the right for a big fight, so we don’t rule that out either. The things that ‘AJ’ wants to do is be in massive fights, win the world heavyweight title and fight Fury or get another crack at Usyk.”

One man who was impressed with Joshua was Wallin, who claimed he was a much tougher opponent than Fury.

Anthony Joshua looked backed to his best against Otto Wallin, and now his promoter is mapping out what’s to come.

Speaking to IFL TV, Eddie Hearn revealed that he was currently in discussions with three potential opponents for his man in March following the impressive Wallin stoppage. He then laid out the criteria.

The things that AJ wants to do is be in massive fights, win the world heavyweight title, and fight Tyson Fury, or get another crack at Usyk. That’s what Ben [Davison] wants – another crack at Usyk. For me, obviously I’d love the Fury fight.”

With the Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk undisputed fight set for February 17, the winner is expected to be quickly stripped of the IBF belt because a rematch clause prevents a mandatory defence against number one challenger, Filip Hrgovic.

Hearn sees that as a good route for Joshua to fight for a vacant title, but admitted it may not all happen in time for Joshua’s next fight.

“A lot has to happen by March to make that possible with Hrgovic. Obviously Fury and Usyk fight in the middle of February. Are they gonna be able to keep the belt? Do they have to let it go? Is Joshua just gonna replace Wallin in the rankings? There’s a lot of discussions.

If that’s in play for March, that’s definitely a possibility. Maybe that’s a fight that, when everything plays out, could be one for the summer. As I said, our conversations right now are about mapping out AJ’s next four or five fights … his 2024 and potentially the rest of his career.”

Finally, the promoter said his charge was planning on keeping up the high level of activity he set in 2023.

“I think he’s gonna fight in March, then I guess he fights in August, September, so whether it’s three times in the calendar year or three times from March to March, something like that.”

Anthony Joshua looked back to his best in a five round beating of Otto Wallin this month, and thoughts have quickly turned to who he might face next.

There’s no doubt that the two-time heavyweight world champion’s form is down to consistent activity. The dominant performance over Wallin was his third fight of the year, and fans will want to see that trend continue into 2024.

Writing in his column for The Mirror, Barry McGuigan suggested Filip Hrgovic, Zhilei Zhang or Daniel Dubois for ‘AJ’s next outing.

“Now Deontay Wilder is out of the equation Anthony Joshua is looking for an opponent to meet the box office demand in Saudi Arabia.

If he is back in the game after the victory over Otto Wallin, as his promoter Eddie Hearn claimed, let’s see Joshua in against Filip Hrgovic, Zhilei Zhang or even Daniel Dubois.

Joshua did his job against Wallin.He will probably want to wait for the winner of Fury and Usyk but that could go to a rematch.

It will be fascinating to see who they pair him with next now Wilder is cooked. Ultimately 2024 is about regaining a world title for Joshua, preferably against Fury, probably in Saudi.”

Hrgovic seems to make the most sense given that he’s number one with the IBF – a belt that’s set to be stripped from the winner of Tyson Fury against Oleksandr Usyk following their undisputed fight as a rematch clause will prevent a mandatory defence.

If Joshua and Hrgovic don’t fight for that vacant strap, ‘AJ’ has already been called out by Zhang. The Dubois bout – despite a solid win over Jarrell Miller from the younger man – is much less likely.