Anthony Joshua, the Nigerian-British former world heavyweight champion who was defeated by Ukraine’s Olenksandr Usyk during the heavyweight boxing rematch for the WBO, IBO, and IBF titles, at the King Abdullah Sports City Arena in the Saudi Arabia Red Sea city of Jeddah, on August 21, 2022.
Joshua admitted after the match that he let himself down following his defeat by Olenksandr Usyk. Joshua threw two belts of Usyk on the floor of the ring in a rage of anger. He later delivered a speech laced with uncouth words.
Joshua, 32 years old, and his boxing career appears to be on the crossroads, especially after his second defeat to the unbeaten Ukrainian. Joshua was later criticised for his emotional post-fight outburst.
Joshua posted on Twitter and praised Usyk as “a class act”, and added; ” 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 will be the first to admit I let myself down. I acted out of pure passion and emotion and when not controlled it ain’t great. I love this sport and I’ll be better from this point on”.
The 6ft 6in (1.98m) Joshua smelt victory when he had Usyk hanging on in the ninth round, only for the southpaw to come firing back to take control of the final stages of the fight for a deserved split-decision victory.
By this defeat, Joshua will have to rebuild his career of this third defeat, while Usyk retained the IBF, WBA and WBO titles. Usyk will now have a unification showdown match with Tyson Fury.
Please share this story.