Boxing star Joshua after losing to Usyk: "It was a great lesson for me"

Enlarge image

Ex-world champion Joshua: "Stay positive"

Photo:

Julian Finney / Getty Images

The wounds had barely been treated, the bumps barely cooled, and it was already clear to Anthony Joshua: He wanted his belt back.

At least that's what promoter Eddie Hearn said after the fight that cost the three-time world champion his titles according to the IBF, WBA and WBO versions.

Joshua lost unanimously on points to Oleksandr Usyk.

"As I walked back through the tunnel, I said to myself: I'm ready to go back to the gym, I'm ready to just keep working," Joshua said himself about the moments after the clear defeat. A defeat that probably shocked the vast majority of the 66,000 spectators in the stadium of the London football club Tottenham Hotspur as well as the local hero himself. After all, the mandatory defense against the Ukrainian ordered by the association should only be the warm-up program for the planned duel against WBC champion Tyson Fury will. But this supposed dream fight has burst for the time being. Because Usyk, who was seven centimeters shorter, turned out to be too much of a challenge for Joshua.

“I'm not going to sulk now, I'm not like that.

It was a great lesson for me.

I know there is a negative side to it, but I have to take it as a lesson and build on it, ”Joshua said.

Addressed to his millions of fans, Joshua tweeted: "Stay positive, even if the world collapses in front of you!"

For the 31-year-old, it was not the first lesson of this very painful kind. In 2019, he surprisingly had his WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO belts to Andy Ruiz jr.

lost the American with the nickname »Little Fat Kid«.

But just six months later, he won these titles back with a clear win.

Then there was a dispute with the WBO.

It was suspected that Joshua wanted to avoid a mandatory defense against a certain boxer: Oleksandr Usyk.

The man who before his professional career fought 350 amateur fights and lost only 15 of them;

who was then cruiserweight world champion for four years and just moved to the highest weight class.

Even then, the question arose: How good is Anthony Joshua, the king of heavyweight, really?

The competitive battle that has now been fought has shown at least once: not good enough.

And this time it was different than against Ruiz Jr.: Usyk didn't take Joshua by surprise, he was simply superior to him.

Heavyweight icon George Foreman later said what many thought: "Usyk is now the future of boxing."

Joshua doesn't want to give up.

But after Usyks dominant appearance in his only third heavyweight fight ever, the question arises how Joshua will defeat him in a rematch.

Usyk was more agile and quick-witted, more tactically adept and defensively more variable.

For him it was the 19th victory in the 19th fight as a professional, for Joshua the second defeat in 26 professional fights.

Too timid, too tired

Promoter Hearn was also anything but satisfied with the performance of his protégé.

One of his protégés, you have to say, after all, Usyk is also under contract with him.

"It wasn't a great performance by AJ, he looked more and more tired as he progressed," said Joshua promoter Hearn.

Usyk promoter Hearn added: "Usyk had the perfect plan and made history."

Lennox Lewis, currently the last undisputed heavyweight boxing world champion, also became clear. "It's not the end for Anthony, but you can't be so timid or wait until the eighth round before you start," wrote the Briton on Twitter. "Learn from it and improve yourself," wrote the 56-year-old, besides Muhammad Ali and Evander Holyfield, the only heavyweight who became world champion a third time after two defeats.

Joshua later said he had already watched the fight and saw some things that he could have done better. Coach Rob McCracken also had a couple of ideas: "He has to exert pressure with his jab and his right hand, unbalance it and then place his punches." “There were a few moments when Anthony hit me hard. But that was nothing special, ”Usyk said simply. The Usyk, who was close to a knockout success at the end of the fight, but later said: »I had no intention of knocking him out. My corner stopped me. "

And yet: Joshua firmly believes that he will also succeed in the feat of the renewed World Cup.

Shortly before the fight, the Briton signed a "lifelong" contract with promoter Hearn.

The rematch against Uzyk will show how long his boxing life will actually be.

With material from Reuters and dpa