Alongside a hugely entertaining round of Premier League fixtures, Anthony Joshua’s defeat to Oleksandr Usyk is the biggest talking point of the weekend. For the first time in his professional career, Joshua has lost consecutive bouts having, of course, been beaten by this same opponent at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last year.It was a better performance from the Londoner but he was still unable to get the job done, Usyk retaining all of his belts in the process. The Ukrainian was very emotional after the fight due to the turmoil that his fellow countrymen have had to endure over the last twelve months or so.Many onlookers believe this was overshadowed, in poor form, by Anthony Joshua’s off-the-cuff, passionate rant/speech following the defeat.

AJ may have been met with a lot of negativity, but a legend of the combat sports world in Conor McGregor has come to his aid.

"You are all going on ridiculous over this. That is a great speech right there. Fair play to him he made it yet he is still in there keeping that cog going. If they wanted the mic they could’ve tried get it back. Then he gives me a shout out. Great fight, thank you! #champchamp."

McGregor’s point may not be all that coherent but the gist of it is clear to see. Some of AJ’s comments regarding Ukraine and actions, particularly when he threw the belts out of the ring, are in a grey area.

However, he is often criticised for not showing any personality and when he finally does, there is an issue with that also.

Talking of the face of British boxing and he himself spoke out on social media. “I had two fights, one with Usyk and one with my emotions and both got the better of me.

Conor McGregor

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."

Here he speaks very openly about the issues he was dealing with both physically and mentally.

He has owned up to any possible wrongdoings but for him to be targeted rather than supported over this is perhaps a sign of the times.