Tony Bellew has taken to social media to defend Anthony Joshua after his defeat at the hands of Oleksandr Usyk.
The former WBC cruiserweight champion was knocked out by the Ukrainian back in 2018 when the pair met for all the belts in the 200-pound division.
Bellew, who is now retired, is a long-time friend of Joshua and witnessed his fellow Brit lose to Usyk for the second time on Saturday night at the Jeddah Superdome in Saudi Arabia.
Joshua was going back in with Usyk in a bid to regain the WBA Super, IBF, IBO and WBO titles taken from him in their first fight at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London last September.
But he lost on a split decision in what was his first fight under new coach Robert Garcia before descending into a bizarre rant.
Joshua has since apologised for his behaviour, which saw him pick up two of Usyk’s belts – including Tyson Fury’s old Ring Magazine title that was on the line between the pair – and throw them before inexplicably leaving the ring and being accused of “stealing” Usyk’s moment, but ‘Bomber’ Bellew has jumped to the defence of his pal.
In a set of tweets, Bellew wrote:
“AJ should be proud of his performance tonight! That is the hardest and most hurt Usyk has ever been in his career!
He will be back and I believe will be in huge and amazing fights in the near future.. The raw emotion shown there shows he’s human and hasn’t forgotten his roots!
Don’t ever judge a boxer on a post-fight interview! I can’t explain to you how much emotion and tiredness are both working AGAINST you!”
AJ should be proud of his performance tonight! That is the hardest and most hurt Usyk has ever been in his career! He will be back and I believe will be in huge and amazing fights in the near future.. The raw emotion shown there shows he’s human and hasn’t forgotten his roots! 💙
— Tony Bellew (@TonyBellew) August 20, 2022
Bellew retired after his defeat to Usyk but doesn’t believe the same fate awaits Joshua, who is now 24-3 (22 KOs) and has already held talks with his promoter Eddie Hearn about making a comeback before the end of the year.
“I’ve known AJ a long time and he’s nothing but respectful, honest and decent to everyone! He’ll be back.”