JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia —
Anthony Joshua has admitted “I let myself down” after the British
heavyweight’s antics following his crushing defeat to Oleksandr Usyk in their
world-title showdown in Saudi Arabia were heavily criticized.
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Joshua hurled two of Usyk’s belts to the floor and
stormed out of the ring in a fit of pique in Jeddah, then returned moments
later to deliver a rambling speech peppered with expletives.
The 32-year-old’s career appears at a crossroads
after Sunday’s second successive defeat to the unbeaten Ukrainian and he came
under fire for his emotional post-fight reaction.
Writing on Twitter, Joshua hailed Usyk as “a class
act”, adding: “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 myself 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.”
Tony Bellew, a retired cruiserweight champion who
was similarly beaten by Usyk, sprang to Joshua’s defense.
“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 apologizes
to everyone!” the Briton tweeted.
The 1.98m Joshua scented victory when he had Usyk
hanging on in the ninth round, only for the mobile southpaw to come firing back
and control the final stages for a deserved split-decision win.
While Joshua was left trying to rebuild his career after his
third defeat, Usyk retained the IBF, WBA, and WBO titles and will now seek a
unification showdown with WBC champion
Tyson Fury.
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