Anthony Joshua has reflected on his actions in the immediate aftermath of his second defeat to Oleksandr Usyk.
A heartbroken ‘AJ’ made headlines for leaving the ring quickly before returning, dashing the Ukrainian’s belts over the ropes and taking the microphone from him.
It was jarring because it’s not what fans had seen from the always-respectful and composed Joshua. He revealed to BBC Sport that he apologised to his opponent through another former foe, Wladimir Klitschko.
“I’m not perfect. It was not the right thing to have done. And I don’t speak to Usyk [but] I spoke to Wladimir, I said ‘look, give Usyk a pat on the shoulder, tell him well done and I apologise.'”
The former unified champion then went on to reveal what caused his reaction, pointing to disappointment at the loss and what it meant for his trajectory in the heavyweight division – something the had been building ever since he turned pro.
“But it was just raw, uncut, and it may not make sense to a lot of people, but it made sense to me. It was just how much it means, to a degree. I thought I’d feel like that at the end of my career … Getting so close to fighting for the undisputed title, getting that fight with Fury that people want so much. It was like, yeah I’m nearly there and then bosh, I didn’t hear my name.”
Finally, Joshua revealed that Usyk calling him ‘big and strong’ triggered him in the moment, before again admitting that his emotions got the better of him.
“Then there was certain things in the ring that were said. Not excuses. It was like ‘you’re big and strong’ he was like ‘you’re strong.’ Remember, a lot of athletes from the African Caribbean community are told that they’re strong. And I feel like it’s quite degrading because you don’t get mentioned about a talent.”
“I’m aware of that because I am a black fighter. So when he said I’m big and strong, it was just like the alarm bells went off. So there’s loads of things just triggering me at the time. But it was just pure raw and uncut emotion.”