Anthony Joshua went to social media Sunday night to express regret for his behavior after he lost a split decision to Oleksandr Usyk in their rematch Saturday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Joshua grabbed the mic after the decision was announced and went on an expletive-filled rant. He also threw two of Usyk’s belts out of the ring.
“I wish @usykaa continued success in your quest for greatness,” Joshua tweeted. “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.”
He also said: “I’ll be the first to admit, I let my self 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.”
Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) defeated Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) by scores of 116-112, 115-113 and 113-115 to retain the IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight titles.
The Ukrainian had taken Joshua’s belts by a unanimous decision last September.
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