08-21-2022, 11:22 PM
Anthony Joshua hurls belts in fury after losing world title fight to Oleksandr Usyk
Oleksandr Usyk was pushed hard by Anthony Joshua, winning a split decision to retain his heavyweight titles.
Vanquished heavyweight title challenger Anthony Joshua threw two of champion Oleksandr Usyk’s belts out of the ring after losing to the Ukrainian for a second time.
Joshua lost a split points decision in Saudi Arabia on Saturday (Sunday NZT) and was seen, in a video posted by Sky Sports, to throw the belts to the ground before storming out of the arena in Jeddah.
The 32-year-old, who later hailed Usyk as a “generational champion’’, remonstrated with his team as he left the ring.
But a clearly emotional Joshua returned moments later to grab the microphone and address the crowd with a bizarre speech.
“I ain't no amateur boxer from five-years-old that was an elite prospect from youth.
“I was going to jail, I got bail and I started training my a..e off, I wanted to be able to fight.
“I'm stealing this [microphone] Usyk I'm sorry, but it's because of the passion we put into this.
Anthony Joshua throws two belts out of the ring as he loses temper after defeat to Oleksandr Usyk.
“This guy to beat me tonight, maybe I could have done better, but it shows the level of hard work I put in so please give him a round of applause as our heavyweight champion of the world.
“This guy here is a phenomenal talent, we're going to cheer for him three times.”
Usyk, speaking through a translator, also had praise for Joshua.
Anthony Joshua holds two of Oleksandr Usyk’s belts after losing their title fight in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
“This is already history,” he said. “Many generations are going to watch this fight, especially the round when someone tried to beat me hard.
“But I stood up to it and turned it in a different way.”
The defeat is the third of Joshua’s professional career and second in succession. His record now stands at 24-3, with 22 knockouts.
Usyk is 20-0 with 13 KOs and widely considered the pound-for-pound best fighter in the sport having unified the cruiserweight division before moving up heavyweight and capturing three of the four belts.
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He called for a fight with WBC champion Tyson Fury to find an undisputed champion, should the unbeaten Englishman plan to fight on.
Fury immediately responded to the challenge on social media, saying “it was one of the worst heavyweight title fights I've ever seen” and he would “annihilate both of them on the same night”.
Get your f...ing chequebook out cause the Gypsy King is here to stay forever!” Fury said in an X-rated post.
In the post-fight press conference, Joshua was close to tears and had to let his promoter Eddie Hearn step in to answer a few questions while he regained his composure.
When asked if he was “proud” of his performance, Joshua said he was “upset deep down in my heart” before choking up as the assembled media applauded the former champion.
He covered his face while Hearn asked the journalists to direct some questions his way. Joshua resumed answering questions shortly after and vowed to fight on.
He said he hoped to be back in the ring in November or December and planned to stay busy from now on.
Joshua went on to explain his outburst, saying he was “mad at myself not anybody else” and felt he had to get out of the ring before he did something he would regret.
“When you’re angry you might do stupid things, but then I realised oh s..t this is sport, let me do the right thing.
“I just spoke from my heart. It’s been so tough,” Joshua said, his voice cracking with emotion.
“You see AJ holding it together, I’m a hustler so I try and put things together, make sure my team is good. But it comes at a cost, a big cost.
“It will never break me, but it takes real strength not to break you. Tonight, there’s a little crack in the armour, because I took a loss, and I think you just saw me upset. With the speech, I was just speaking about where I’d come from.”
Oleksandr Usyk was pushed hard by Anthony Joshua, winning a split decision to retain his heavyweight titles.
Vanquished heavyweight title challenger Anthony Joshua threw two of champion Oleksandr Usyk’s belts out of the ring after losing to the Ukrainian for a second time.
Joshua lost a split points decision in Saudi Arabia on Saturday (Sunday NZT) and was seen, in a video posted by Sky Sports, to throw the belts to the ground before storming out of the arena in Jeddah.
The 32-year-old, who later hailed Usyk as a “generational champion’’, remonstrated with his team as he left the ring.
But a clearly emotional Joshua returned moments later to grab the microphone and address the crowd with a bizarre speech.
“I ain't no amateur boxer from five-years-old that was an elite prospect from youth.
“I was going to jail, I got bail and I started training my a..e off, I wanted to be able to fight.
“I'm stealing this [microphone] Usyk I'm sorry, but it's because of the passion we put into this.
Anthony Joshua throws two belts out of the ring as he loses temper after defeat to Oleksandr Usyk.
“This guy to beat me tonight, maybe I could have done better, but it shows the level of hard work I put in so please give him a round of applause as our heavyweight champion of the world.
“This guy here is a phenomenal talent, we're going to cheer for him three times.”
Usyk, speaking through a translator, also had praise for Joshua.
Anthony Joshua holds two of Oleksandr Usyk’s belts after losing their title fight in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
“This is already history,” he said. “Many generations are going to watch this fight, especially the round when someone tried to beat me hard.
“But I stood up to it and turned it in a different way.”
The defeat is the third of Joshua’s professional career and second in succession. His record now stands at 24-3, with 22 knockouts.
Usyk is 20-0 with 13 KOs and widely considered the pound-for-pound best fighter in the sport having unified the cruiserweight division before moving up heavyweight and capturing three of the four belts.
"?????????? ??? ???????!" ?
He called for a fight with WBC champion Tyson Fury to find an undisputed champion, should the unbeaten Englishman plan to fight on.
Fury immediately responded to the challenge on social media, saying “it was one of the worst heavyweight title fights I've ever seen” and he would “annihilate both of them on the same night”.
Get your f...ing chequebook out cause the Gypsy King is here to stay forever!” Fury said in an X-rated post.
In the post-fight press conference, Joshua was close to tears and had to let his promoter Eddie Hearn step in to answer a few questions while he regained his composure.
When asked if he was “proud” of his performance, Joshua said he was “upset deep down in my heart” before choking up as the assembled media applauded the former champion.
He covered his face while Hearn asked the journalists to direct some questions his way. Joshua resumed answering questions shortly after and vowed to fight on.
He said he hoped to be back in the ring in November or December and planned to stay busy from now on.
Joshua went on to explain his outburst, saying he was “mad at myself not anybody else” and felt he had to get out of the ring before he did something he would regret.
“When you’re angry you might do stupid things, but then I realised oh s..t this is sport, let me do the right thing.
“I just spoke from my heart. It’s been so tough,” Joshua said, his voice cracking with emotion.
“You see AJ holding it together, I’m a hustler so I try and put things together, make sure my team is good. But it comes at a cost, a big cost.
“It will never break me, but it takes real strength not to break you. Tonight, there’s a little crack in the armour, because I took a loss, and I think you just saw me upset. With the speech, I was just speaking about where I’d come from.”