Eddie Hearn believes there would have been a disaster in the ring last weekend if somebody were to have taken the microphone from Anthony Joshua.
The 32-year-old went on a bizarre rant in the aftermath of his rematch defeat against Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday.
Joshua was on the wrong end of an inexplicable split decision against the Ukrainian southpaw (20-0, 13 KOs) as he looked to become a three-time unified global ruler at the Jeddah Superdome in Saudi Arabia.
And after the verdict was read out, Joshua began to get irate and didn’t exactly cover himself in glory with post-fight antics that many believe should have been nipped in the bud at the earliest available opportunity.
But Hearn, who is tasked with rebuilding the former Olympic champion, doesn’t reckon it could have been quelled.
When speaking to the DAZN Boxing Show, the Matchroom head honcho said:
”There are so many idiots out there who have got an opinion and go – ‘oh I can’t believe no one went over to him and grabbed the microphone’
“When he’s in that mood, someone going over to him and taking the microphone off him would have been the worst thing [that could have happened].
“There would have been a riot in that ring and it would have escalated terribly.
“It’s all very well, people being smart after the fact, saying this and that but the truth is, he reacted badly in the ring. He was frustrated, he’s worked 11 months to try and win this fight, he wanted to win more than anything in the world and he behaved in a way that he knew he shouldn’t have.”
Joshua took to social media in the aftermath of his defeat to release a statement, vowing to be better and admitting that he had let himself down with his actions – actions that his former Team GB amateur team-mate Frazer Clarke, who he now manages, should have been stopped by his management team.
Hearn stated that the lack of intervention from anybody in the ring on the night saved the whole event from potentially being tarnished.
He added:
“Someone wound him up, he flipped and it got worse. He left the ring because he knew he had to get out of this situation and when he got halfway down [to go back to the dressing rooms], he made the decision to go back into the ring. Do you know why he made that decision? Because he was embarrassed.
“He got there and he thought about his responsibility to be sportsmanlike so he turned round, went back into the ring and asked for the mic. He got the mic and at that stage, he dug his own grave. You die by the sword.
“What he said wasn’t horrendous and he was very emotional, but what he was trying to do was give Usyk the respect [he deserved] before he left the ring, but [I think] it would have been a million times worse if someone had have gone up to him and grabbed him or the mic.”
Joshua, since suffering his third defeat in five fights, has said that he is eager to get back in the ring sooner rather than later, with Hearn eyeing a potential return for AJ before the end of the year.