Oleksandr Usyk has issued his reaction to Anthony Joshua’s post-fight outburst.
Joshua was on the wrong end of a split decision against the Ukrainian on Saturday night in Saudi Arabia.
The pair rematched for the WBA Super, IBF, IBO and WBO world heavyweight titles at the Jeddah Superdome, with the 35-year-old getting the nod on two of the three ringside scorecards.
After the fight, an emotional Joshua –– who has since apologised –– ranted at the treatment he had endured prior to the second fight against the Ukrainian.
And Usyk, the former undisputed world champion at cruiserweight who moved to 20-0 (13 KOs) after picking up WBC champion Tyson Fury’s recently-relinquished Ring Magazine title before targeting a potential £200million showdown with ‘The Gypsy King’, has moved to defend the actions of his fellow Olympic champion.
In the post-fight presser, Usyk said:
“I saw him a bit emotional and like bullying some of my teammates.
That would be a bare-knuckle fight that I don’t recommend him to do because most of them are horrible street fighters.
I feel nothing but respect to AJ.”
Joshua was quick, after inexplicably lashing out in the aftermath of suffering his third defeat as a professional, to apologise for his actions, explaining that he was upset and “in war mode”.
Usyk took to the microphone after beating Joshua to doubt the retirement of the aforementioned Fury, who holds the only piece of real estate in the sport’s premier division that doesn’t belong to Usyk, but was warned by the 34-year-old that the fight for all the belts would not come cheap.