Goossen trained Garcia for three fights in 2022 and '23, but Garcia fired the Hall of Fame coach after getting knocked out by Gervonta Davis. Garcia alleged there was a “mole” in Goosen’s gym who leaked sensitive training camp information before the Davis fight.

To prepare for Garcia, Barrios (29-2-2, 18 KOs) brought in Goossen as his new head coach. Call it a coincidence, or call it gamesmanship, but the move prompted Garcia (24-2, 20 KOs, 1 NC) to say he was heartbroken while labeling Goossen as a “traitor.”

Goossen was stunned by the sentiment, but he also realizes Garcia is concerned by the unique elements of going up against his former coach.

Goossen has experience dealing with a similar scenario.

In October 2003, Goossen coached Joel Casamayor to a sixth-round stoppage win against Diego Corrales. After the fight, Casamayor fired Goossen following a six-year run. Corrales, meanwhile, fired his trainer Kenny Adams as well. In need of a new coach, Corrales hired Goossen for the May 2004 rematch, and Goossen gave Corrales the gameplan required to beat Casamayor by split decision.

The Ring caught up with Goossen for more than an hour-long conversation to get his perspective on the entire situation.

The following is in Goossen’s words and has been edited for length and clarity.

I really don't know what the hell Ryan is talking about, to tell you the truth. It's all right. I don't want to spend my time trying to figure it out.

It hurts me to know that somebody else is hurt. I wish it weren't the case, but it is. I get what's going on. I've been hired and fired by many guys before. I've been doing this for a half century. You have to take it as it comes. But you have to do business to survive, and that means taking a job.

I got called to do a job, and it just happens to be against one of my former fighters who I had a great relationship with. I'm sorry for all of the trouble it seems to have caused Ryan, but I don't know what to do about it.

I've known Ryan since he was a kid. I know. I have a heart. I understand. It seems like it's very personal to him. I feel bad that anyone would feel that way toward me. I'm just trying to do my job the best that I can. Mario Barrios hired me.

I shook Ryan's hand and gave him a hug when I saw him at the kickoff press conference for this fight. I had a great time and relationship with Ryan, and I always have gotten along with his father, Henry, his mother Lisa, and his manager, Lupe Valencia. Maybe that's why he's so hurt, because I've had a long relationship with him.

I would never not like Ryan, no matter what he says about me, because I know deep down inside, he respects me a lot, and likes me.

Have guys taken verbal shots at me before? Yes. But it's rare because I don't do anything to antagonize fighters. I respect them too much. It's hard for me to get insulted or disrespected. If you have thin skin, you're going to be hurt all the time. I brush stuff off. But I'm not uncaring, and I do feel for other people. I can't carry that burden with me.

I'm pretty good at compartmentalizing. I have a one-track mind, and that's going to the gym and doing the best that I can for Mario. I just want to work with my guy. Mario is a world champion, and I want him to stay that way.

I won't say anything about Ryan that is negative and untrue. This is an incredible sport and fighters deserve all the praise. The balls it takes to do this, I have too much respect for the fighters, even if they are my worst critic. I know the dangers and destruction of the sport, what it takes and what these guys face daily. This is a tough profession.

We left on good terms, and we maintained a good relationship. I don't dislike Ryan. Even after we split, and around a month before Mario came to me, Ryan was using my gym in Van Nuys, California to train. He called me up one night at 8 p.m., and I drove an hour to open the doors for him.

Look, Ryan worked very hard with me. He made weight. He was in tremendous shape and never missed days and was there every morning. The guy ran like a demon. Ryan had been in my gym as a 15-year-old and knew what my system was. Even when he was working with Eddy Reynoso, he would call me and tell me how he was improving and executing on things that he worked on when he was younger.

Everyone knows Ryan has a lot of power, but that was at 135 pounds. This is 147 now. You don't always take that power with you when you move up in weight. Ryan is a big guy, but Mario is bigger. We won't let Ryan outwork us. Conditioning plays a factor in a big fight like this. Who's going to come down the stretch and hit as hard late as they did early? But I am not going to underestimate any fighter I go up against. That's the biggest mistake you can make.

You kind of know how Ryan is going to fight. There aren't a lot of secrets and he doesn't do a lot of new things, necessarily. But what he does do, he's very proficient at. He's mastered a style for himself that normally works, and he's comfortable with it.

Ryan does “X” amount of things really, really well, and we kept improving on that. And he also learned by osmosis. Boxing teaches you, and fighting in a real fight is the ultimate teacher.

I will tell you this: Don't underestimate Ryan. He's very motivated right now, as you saw in the press conference. It's not just Mario. It's me, too. It's a motivating factor for him. I'd be negligent to think that Ryan isn't training hard.

I already know that Ryan is very motivated right now. I'd be foolish to expect anything less than 100 percent. I hope Ryan comes in 100 percent, like he said he would. I will take him for his word for that. I'm shooting for 120 percent with Mario, because sometimes 100 percent is not good enough.

I would hope to think, above and beyond anything else, nobody thinks I'm a mole. It's absurd on its face. Did it take 50 years for me to finally be a traitor? Is that what we're saying here? Because nobody else has ever accused me of anything.

It's absurd on its face but I've allowed for it to continue without much resistance because anybody who knows anything about anything knows that I would never want my fighter to lose in a fight. It's so unreasonable. I can't control what other people say or do. I'll let my reputation speak for itself. If Ryan wants to convince himself of something badly enough, I guess he can do it.

What would be the upside of me wanting Ryan to lose? In fact, if Ryan beat Gervonta, financially, I'm looking better than at any point in my life. Things would have really taken off if we beat Gervonta and the sky would have been the limit for Ryan.

I don't have a grudge with Ryan. It's not my style. I can still like an opponent, until it's gametime. Then we want to win.

I love working with Mario. He's punctual, attentive, listens, executes and never complains. He's very cooperative, and we've made great strides in the gym tightening things up offensively and defensively. It's going exactly the way that we planned. He's executing, and I'm happy.

We've had close to a three-month training camp, and we're reaching our goals. I can honestly say this is one of the great training camps I've had with a world champion. Mario is carrying out all of the assignments I've given. He's a workhorse, and I never see him tired. He's embracing this wholeheartedly.

We put in three hours of work each day in the gym, 30 to 40 rounds minimum on the floor, because there is so much detail to cover as we're trying to tighten the screws. Everything under the sun, from footwork to knuckle placement. We're spending all of the time we need and seeking perfection. Mario has been an exceptional partner in that respect.

The difference in this camp for Mario is that he's been able to jump in, adjust and embrace my rather strenuous workouts. Because Mario is so dedicated and works so hard adapting to what my gameplan is, and my blueprint on the floor and sparring, his willingness to embrace that makes me want to work harder.

When I have a cooperative fighter and they buy into my system, that's a big plus for them, and me.

I wouldn't tell you how Mario is going to beat Ryan if you gave me a million bucks. But I know exactly what we're going to do.

I've announced a handful of Mario's fights in the past and said what he needed to do, but you have to lead the horse to water if you want them to drink. I am correcting the offensive and defensive issues we've seen, and it doesn't mean that Mario isn't capable of doing 10 times from what we've seen before, and that's what you're going to see.

Mario is as sharp as any fighter I have ever trained for a championship fight. Whatever you thought of Mario, multiply it by 10, and that's what you're going to get on February 21. On top of that, he's a classy guy that I respect, and the world needs more men like Mario. He rallied in the Manny Pacquiao fight in July to preserve a draw. Barrios told me that things would have been quite different in the Pacquiao fight if he took what we've been working on now, and applied it in that fight.

Frankie Duarte, one of the fighters I used to coach, once told me that he wanted to train for the hardest, toughest, bloodiest, 12-round fight imaginable and that anything less than that was a gift. That was over 40 years ago, and I've never forgotten that. That's how I train with Mario Barrios, and with one thing in mind – to win the fight against Ryan Garcia.

Manouk Akopyan is The Ring’s lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram: @ManoukAkopyan.