---
title: "Anthony Joshua Takes To Social Media To Reflect On Ring Outburst: “I Let Myself Down”"
canonical: "https://boxing-social.com/news/anthony-joshua-i-let-myself-down/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Elliot Foster"
section: "News"
published: "2022-08-22T08:21:24Z"
modified: "2022-08-22T08:26:33Z"
---

# Anthony Joshua Takes To Social Media To Reflect On Ring Outburst: “I Let Myself Down”

Anthony Joshua has admitted he let himself down with his actions after his defeat by Oleksandr Usyk.

[The 32-year-old lost to the Ukrainian for the second time in less than a year](https://wp.boxing-social.com/news/oleksandr-usyk-outpoints-anthony-joshua/) on Saturday night, failing to win back his WBA Super, IBF, IBO and WBO world heavyweight titles at the Jeddah Superdome in Saudi Arabia.

Joshua lost a split decision, by margins of 113-115, 116-112 and 115-113, 11 months on from last September’s outpointing by Usyk at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.

And after choking back tears in the [post-fight press conference following his out-of-character rant in the aftermath](https://wp.boxing-social.com/news/frazer-clarke-on-joshua-outburst/), ‘AJ’ issued a statement on Sunday after taking himself into “a dark place”.

[Joshua wrote on social media](https://www.instagram.com/p/Chh36zVMw9V):

> “I wish Oleksandr Usyk 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.”

Joshua produced a much-improved performance against the former undisputed cruiserweight champion, who has now called out [WBC](https://wbcboxing.com/) champion [Tyson Fury](https://wp.boxing-social.com/news/tyson-fury-declares-return-wants-usyk/), in what was his first fight under new coach Robert Garcia.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Chh36zVMw9V/?utm\_source=ig\_web\_copy\_link

But it wasn’t enough against a man who is undoubtedly a top-level operator and who moved to 20-0 with 13 quick finishes as Joshua slipped to 24-3 (22 KOs) having now lost three of his last five.

AJ added:

> “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.”