Anthony Joshua has admitted “I let myself down” after the British heavyweight’s antics following his crushing defeat to Oleksandr Usyk of their world-title showdown in Saudi Arabia had been closely criticised.
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Joshua hurled two of Usyk’s belts to the ground and stormed out of the ring in a match of pique in Jeddah, then returned moments later to ship a rambling speech peppered with expletives.
The 32-year-old’s profession seems at a crossroads after Sunday’s second successive defeat to the unbeaten Ukrainian and he got here below fireplace for his emotional post-fight response.
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Writing on Twitter, Joshua hailed Usyk as “a class act”, including: “Yesterday I needed to mentally take myself right into a darkish place to compete for the championship belts!
“I had two fights, one with Usyk and one with my feelings, and each obtained the higher of me.
“I’ll be the primary to confess, I let myself down. I acted out of pure ardour and emotion and when not managed it ain’t nice.
“I love this sport so so much and I’ll be better from this point on. Respect.”
Tony Bellew, a retired cruiserweight champion who was equally overwhelmed by Usyk, sprang to Anthony Joshua’s defence.
“Made a mistake like everyone else on planet earth has done, only difference is he makes his in front of millions on TV and then comes out (which is hard to do) and apologises to everyone!” the Briton tweeted.
Anthony Joshua will try and rebuild his profession
The 6-foot-6 (1.98m) Joshua scented victory when he had Usyk hanging on within the ninth spherical, just for the cellular southpaw to come back firing again and management the ultimate levels for a deserved split-decision win.
While Joshua was left attempting to rebuild his profession after his third defeat, Usyk retained the IBF, WBA and WBO titles and can now search a unification showdown with WBC champion Tyson Fury.
By Garrin Lambley © Agence France-Presse
