'I let myself down': Anthony Joshua speaks out following bizarre speech after losing rematch to Oleksandr Usyk
21 August 2022, 09:53 | Updated: 21 August 2022, 20:46
Anthony Joshua has said he let himself down after he was left fuming following his second loss to Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk.
The English fighter failed to recapture the unified heavyweight titles in their clash in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia - this time on a split decision.
After the defeat, Joshua threw the belts out of the ring, before returning to shake hands with his opponent and delivering a bizarre speech.
Reflecting on his actions, Joshua tweeted: "I wish @usykaa continued success in your quest for greatness. You are a class act champ.
"Yesterday I had to mentally take myself into a dark place to compete for the championship belts!
"I had two fights, one with Usyk and one with my emotions and both got the better of me.
"I’ll be the first to admit, I let my self down. I acted out of pure passion and emotion and when not controlled it ain’t great.
"I love this sport so so much and I’ll be better from this point on. Respect."
In his initial speech, Joshua told Usyk: “I don’t care about strong, I have to have skill.
“Being strong doesn’t win boxing. Skills win boxing.
“You’re not strong. How did you beat me? How? Because of skill.
“I had character and determination. Where’s the mic?”
Joshua grabbed the mic and told the crowd: “If you knew my story you would understand the passion.
"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*** off, I wanted to be able to fight.
Anthony Joshua loses by split decision in Oleksandr Usyk rematch
"I'm stealing this Usyk I'm sorry, but it's because of the passion we put into this.
"I'm not a 12-round fighter, look at me, I'm a new breed of heavyweights, Mike Tyson, Sonny Liston, Jack Dempsey, 'you don't throw combinations like Rocky Marciano', I'm 18 stone, I'm heavy, it's hard work.
"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."
Two judges scored the fight 115-113 and 116-112 to Usyk. The third judge gave it 115-113 to Joshua.
Joshua has now suffered back-to-back defeats against Usyk, with the champion retaining the WBA (Super), WBO and IBF titles he won in London last September.
