Oleksandr Usyk remains undefeated while Anthony Joshua suffers the third defeat of his career
Oleksandr Usyk remains undefeated while Anthony Joshua suffers the third defeat of his career

Anthony Joshua has spoken out on social media for the first time following his split-decision loss to Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia on Saturday evening.

The Brit was emotionally charged as he gave a bizarre post-fight monologue from the ring following the devastating defeat that saw him miss out on the chance to regain his heavyweight championship belts.

Joshua then teared up during his post-fight press conference after being asked whether he was proud of how he had performed against the Ukrainian.

The former champ revealed he had to take himself to a ‘dark place’ for the rematch with Usyk and explained his emotions got the better of him in a short statement posted online.

Writing on his Twitter less than 24 hours later, Joshua said: “I wish Usyk continued success in your quest for greatness.

“You are a class act champ. Yesterday I had to mentally take myself into a dark place to compete for the championship belts!

“I had two fights, one with Usyk and one with my emotions and both got the better of me.”

The Watford-born orthodox boxer then provided a further update in a later Tweet, as he admitted to letting himself down:

“I’ll be the first to admit, I let myself down. I acted out of pure passion and emotion and when not controlled it ain’t great.

“I love this sport so so much and I’ll be better from this point on. Respect.”