In a rather sobre mood, he declared that his lost came with a prize.
“It’ll nevebreak me. But it comes at a cost,” were the exact words of Anthony Joshua, after a failed attempt to reclaim his unified World Boxing Organisation (WBO), World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) heavyweight, which he lost to Oleksandr Usyk, earlier in the year.
Anthony Joshua confident against Usyk in Rage of the Red Sea battle.
The former world champion, was quoted as finding it difficult to attune himself to the fact that he lost again to the same man after a lot of preparations that came with expectations of becoming champion again, and unsuccessfully attempted to hold back tears as he he held his head in his hands.
“I don’t feel anything. I’m upset deep down in my heart,” he said as he tried to grapple with the reality of the outcome of the re-match, which he lost in a split decision by the referees, an improvement from his last encounter with the champion, where he was completely overwhelmed and knocked out.
Joshua, a Nigerian-born British boxer, had flung away two championship belts from the ring, and stormed out of the arena only to return to explain: “I was mad at myself. Not at anyone, just at myself. So I thought I’ve got to get out of here because I’m mad. Like anyone when you’re angry, you might do stupid things. Then I realised, this is sport. Let me do the right thing. Then I just spoke from my heart.
“It’s been so tough. You see AJ holding it together and I’m a hustler so I try and hold things together and I try and work hard, put things together, make sure my team’s good. But it comes at a cost, a big cost. It’ll never break me, but it takes real strength for it not to break you. There’s a little crack in that armour. Because I took a loss and I think you just saw me upset. I’m a fighter. I’m not a normal person, even though I try to hold it together. I was just in war mode.
