Incredible sulk
Joshua: I’m not going to be at home crying about losing world titles... this is war. This isn’t just one fight and I’m finished. I’ve no interest in being...
AS Oleksandr Usyk was celebrating winning their rerun of the Crimean War, Anthony Joshua was already busy plotting his revenge.
Joshua analysed footage of his damaging loss, which cost him his WBA Super, IBF and WBO heavyweight world titles, in his dressing room on Saturday at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Tony Bellew and Derek Chisora popped in to offer comfort to him on joining them as members of the Usyk losers’ club and gave him some pointers.
Joshua was defiant when he finally emerged from his dressing room more than two hours after his surprise defeat, claiming he had started planning for the rematch.
Unlike his defence against Usyk, Joshua’s self-belief is rock solid and he insists he will win back his unified world title – just like he did when he suffered his only other loss to Andy Ruiz Jr in 2019. The 31-year-old said: “I’m not a sulker. This is a blessed opportunity to be able to fight for the heavyweight championship of the world. “I’m not going to go home and be crying about it because this is war. It’s a long process. This isn’t just one fight and I’m done. “I can’t go back and sulk, that’s a waste of time. I’m going back to look at ways I can improve straight away. I’ve already looked at the fight.
“When I walked back through the tunnel, I said to myself, ‘I’m ready to get back into the gym’.”
While Joshua’s positivity is commendable, what was worrying was his virtual denial of what had just happened.
He claimed his unanimous points defeat to Usyk was “a good experience” and that he did not regret trying to beat the Ukrainian at his own game by outboxing the boxer.
In another echo of the Crimean War, his game plan was as ill-conceived as the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade and he was soundly beaten. Joshua said: “It was a great experience and we’ve progressed once again.
“You’ve got to trust the process, good or bad. I can’t look at it and have any regrets.
“I believe I will get a good win in the next fight because of what I did in this fight.
“It was a great lesson. I’m a quick learner and I will bounce back.”
Promoter Eddie Hearn struck a more realistic tone when he said he felt Usyk had got inside Joshua’s head.
The Matchroom supremo said: “One thing Usyk does well is he infiltrates your brain.
“You’re almost worrying about how good he is.
“I think maybe AJ gave him too much respect, particularly in the early part of the fight.” Hearn is right and Joshua stood off Usyk, allowing him to dictate the tempo in front of the 66,000 crowd in London.
The southpaw repeatedly landed and was particularly effective with his left hook while restricting Joshua to isolated success with his right.
Usyk was superb at moving in and out of the pocket and sent the home favourite staggering backwards with another left in the seventh.
Joshua’s right eye began to swell up in a sign of Usyk’s accuracy and he could not see out of it by the ninth.
Hearn feared Usyk would stop Joshua and he almost did in the 12th when he pinned the champion on the ropes and unloaded on him.
Joshua stuck out his tongue in an attempt to show he wasn’t hurt but the pain of handing over his belts was to come.
The judges scored the contest 117-112, 116-112, 115-113 and 34-year-old Usyk had become a two-weight world champion in the city where he won Olympic heavyweight gold in 2012.
He smiled and said: “London really is a lucky city for me.”