Anthony Joshua had a meltdown in Saudi Arabia on Saturday as the loser of a heavyweight fight stole headlines from the winner – Oleksandr Usyk.
Putting on a boxing clinic and winning almost every round of the fight, Usyk flew the flag for his native Ukraine in a war-torn year.
Sadly, after not having the skills against Usyk again, Joshua took it upon himself to ruin Usyk’s moment.
Anthony Joshua acted childishly
Firstly, Joshua threw Usyk’s titles out of the ring in a disgusting gesture. He then headed toward the dressing room childishly.
Upon returning and taking the microphone to boot, Joshua proceeded to disrespect Usyk and name-dropped several legends of the sport.
The Londoner also addressed the war in Ukraine, which he had no business doing before Usyk had his opportunity.
It was a car crash on TV, and Anthony Joshua was driving.
An attempt to explain his wrongdoings afterward did little for his reputation.
“When you try and do things from your heart, not everyone is going to understand,” Joshua told the media at the post-fight presser.
“It was just from the heart. I knew I was mad at myself. Not at anyone, just myself. I was like. I got to get out of here because I’m mad.
Stupid things
“When you’re angry, you might do stupid things. Then I realized this is a sport. I came back and did the right thing.”
He returned, but then he carried on the disrespect in the ring. Those present around the ropes were hoping he’d put the microphone down, even his team.
Josuha lost the plot and should have remained in the corner as Usyk addressed his win.
Eddie Hearn wants his kids to look up to AJ
Promoter Eddie Hearn, as usual, backed his man. Like the judges on MasterChef, when Chris Eubank cooked a tin of corned beef, he didn’t have the cojones to tell his man he did wrong.
“This is someone who I want my kids to look up to,” Hearn declared amazingly regarding Joshua’s petulance. “If he’s out in public, he gives everyone his time [WBN never witnessed this].
“He’s one of the nicest guys. He’s a competitor and winner. What you saw was raw emotion. A real person who wanted to win badly.”
Joshua will hopefully retire after another lackluster performance only proved he doesn’t have it at the very top level.
Those who enable his outburst should be ashamed of themselves.
The views expressed in this article are the opinions of Phil Jay.
WBN Editor Phil has over ten years of boxing news experience. Follow WBN on Facebook @officialworldboxingnews and Twitter @worldboxingnews.
