English boxer Anthony Joshua had an emotional reaction following his defeat to the Ukrainian in the Saudi Arabia fight on Saturday night. The 32-year-old fighter took the microphone from winner Oleksandr Usyk and went on a four-minute monologue.
Anthony Joshua had an animated reaction after losing his world heavyweight title after twelve rounds of boxing.
The heavyweight fighter threw his opponent’s belts out of the ring and then went to leave the arena, before returning to shake winner Mr Usyk’s hand.
He then picked up the microphone and gave a heated speech, in which he talked about his life, career, and the current war in Ukraine as well as led cheers for winner Mr Usyk.
It was reported that Mr Joshua then cried during the post-fight press conference.
In his microphone monologue, Mr Joshua used strong language as he called himself a “new breed” of heavyweight fighter and appeared to insult other champions such as Mike Tyson.
He congratulated the winner, and said: “Usyk is one hell of a f***ing fighter, let’s give him a round of applause.”
The former champion also spoke about his passion for boxing, his life and troubles with the police as he reflected on his boxing career.
The English boxer then went on to lead the crowd in “three cheers for Usyk” and also spoke directly to Mr Usyk while speaking about the Ukraine conflict, describing the war as “not nice”.
He said: “Well how many belts have you got now bro, five? As I said, I was studying Ukraine and all of the champions that have come from your amazing country. I’ve never been there but at the same time what’s happening there is not nice.”
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Boxing fans took to social media following Mr Joshua’s speech, with one fan describing the boxer’s microphone speech as “weird”.
Twitter user @ayrtonb24 said: “Anthony Joshua’s speech was just weird man” while another user, @jgoodall_, commented that: “Anthony Joshua gone full Kanye.”
A third user, @ogbenidipo, remarked: “Anthony Joshua might have had concussion. That’s the only explanation for his cringe-worthy speech. His team should have stopped him immediately.”
Twitter user @jayboland1 added: “Anthony Joshua has just embarrassed himself completely, take the loss, thank your opponent and don’t make it political.
“He stood in solidarity with Usky first, then; he ruined his reputation. Shocking display of sportsmanship.”
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Another social media user, @chainsmokpeng, said: “I get that he was disappointed but Anthony Joshua needed to let Usyk have his moment.
“That was a weird ego moment cloaked in congratulation for his opponent.”
However, there were some positive reactions to the English boxer’s speech.
@fgradam on Twitter said: “Can we appreciate the fact Anthony Joshua always shows class? Standing side by side with Usyk with the Ukrainian flag.”
It is expected that Mr Joshua will take a hiatus after losing the heavyweight championship, but winner Mr Usyk has called on English boxer Tyson Fury to come out of retirement.
The Ukrainian champion said: “I’m sure that Fury is not retired yet. I’m convinced he wants to fight me.
“I want to fight him, if I’m not fighting Fury, I’m not fighting at all. Only God knows if I will be undisputed or not.”
Mr Usyk then thanked Ukraine and said: “I devote this victory to my country, my family, my team, military defending the country. Thank you very much.”
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