Anthony Joshua 's coach has accused his fighter of disrespecting Oleksandr Usyk by throwing the world heavyweight title belts on the ground after losing to the Ukrainian.
Joshua, 32, was hoping to become a three-time champion in his rematch against Usyk earlier this month, but he was outpointed by the Ukrainian for the second time in 11 months. 'AJ' put up a valiant effort and did have more success compared to their first meeting last September, but was ultimately outclassed by the former undisputed cruiserweight king as he suffered his second consecutive defeat.
The Brit was furious after the fight and had to be restrained after almost getting into a scuffle with a member of Usyk's team. Joshua then threw two of his world title belts out of the ring and stormed off, only to return to the ring moments later to deliver an X-rated speech. Joshua's coach Robert Garcia believes his fighter made an effort to try and rectify his actions after going on a tantrum.
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“When that happened, I was not close to him”, Garcia told IZQUIERDAZO. “I don’t exactly know how it happened. When he grabbed the belts, I believed that he wanted to greet Usyk, and deliver the belts himself, recognising Usyk as the champion or something like that. But then I saw that he went to a corner, and threw them to the floor. I saw a little bit of a lack of respect.
"When he came back to the ring, he apologised. We knew and he knew that it was wrong. I think it was desperation, as if he didn’t want to accept that he lost the fight. But in the dressing room, when we were speaking, we understood his frustration”. Joshua broke down in the tears at the post-fight press conference when discussing his actions and insisted he was only angry at himself, not at anybody else, after the fight.
Garcia believes Joshua will fight again by the end of the year, adding: "Anthony said that he wants to fight as soon as possible, because he doesn’t want to be seen as a loser. For me, that is the attitude of a great warrior. I liked that he thinks that way. If the fight is in December, there is not much time left, just four months. He can rest for a couple of weeks, but we will keep training, and be in better form for December."
