Anthony Joshua was unable to regain the heavyweight titles he lost to Oleksandr Usyk last September, with the Ukrainian completely outboxing him once again last night in Saudi Arabia.
He was able to give a better account of himself in the 12 round slug fest, although not enough to get the better of his rival, falling to a split decision defeat, although another unanimous decision defeat was probably more reflective of the fight.
The Brit tried his luck by going back to his former image of all black attire like he fought in during his early challenger days as a professional, although it was to no avail.
After the fight, the British fighter completely lost his head before going on his bizarre tirade when stealing the microphone and the heavyweight championâs moment.
He stormed out of the ring and was met with boos from the Saudi crowd, before heading back into the ring to continue his fiasco by grabbing the Ring Magazine belt and the WBA (Super) and throwing them out of the ring with disgust.
Despite the incongruous actions, he did pay credit to Usyk in his speech, so itâs difficult to say what provoked such an astonishingly bad reaction from the Brit.
It didnât stop there though. Before grabbing the mic, he confronted the heavyweight champion heâd just lost to again, saying: âI donât care about strong, I have that skill, [inaudible] youâre not strong, how did you beat me? How? Iâve got skill, I had character and determination.â
Joshua then walks away from Usyk who is trying to reply respectfully, but heâs having none of it as he wandered off looking for the mic, ready for that already infamous rant.
While Joshuaâs behaviour is rightly being called out despite him then talking highly of his competitor, itâs not right to make fun of him.
He gave it absolutely everything out in Jeddah, making the fight much closer this time around. Knowing he gave it his absolute best and it still wasnât good enough will no doubt hurt.
Already in his career he has earned so much and he wonât be stopped here. He is a champion and a fighter and heâll surely be back competing with the very best.
Itâs just a shame he had to let himself down in that manner after giving a good account of himself in the fight, but it begs the question, where were his team? Why were they not on hand to intervene and stop him damaging his reputation like he did?