ANTHONY JOSHUA has vowed to ‘keep positive’ after being stunned by Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk in London on Saturday night.
Usyk nabbed AJ’s WBA, WBO and IBF belts following a unanimous decision after a boxing masterclass at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
But it didn’t take long for Joshua to take to social media to thank the 67,000 fans in attendance for their support.
In a dressing room selfie, a bruised AJ flexed his bicep and wrote: “Keep positive even if the world’s crumbling in front of you!
“London I love you & thank you each and every time!”
“Keep positive even if the world’s crumbling in front of you!”
Anthony Joshua on social media
The 31-year-old fighter is expected to exercise the rematch clause in his contract with former cruiserweight Usyk, after seeing his belts ripped away from him for a second time in his career.
Watford-born AJ first tasted defeat at Madison Square Garden in 2019 when he was sensationally stopped by Andy Ruiz Jr.
And a bruised AJ congratulated Usyk in his post fight press conference, before vowing to return stronger.
JOIN SUN VEGAS: GET A FREE £10 BONUS WITH 100s OF GAMES TO PLAY AND NO DEPOSIT REQUIRED (Ts&Cs apply)
He said: “Well done to the winner and we’ll be back again.
“[I’ll] get back into training, [it was] a great twelve rounds, a great experience as well in the ring.
“And we progress from this point on once again, so we’ll be doing it all again soon.”
When asked where it went wrong, AJ replied: “What went wrong? Just taking a loss, but we’ll get it right.
“Probably from the ninth [round] I could not see in the ninth round, [I] couldn’t see anything really, my eye was shut but it was a good experience.
“Because in adversity you have to learn to control yourself, [and] stay on top of things.
“So when I couldn’t see anything…
“It’s the first time it’s happened in a fight so I was thinking ‘ok cool, this is the first time my eye has closed in a fight, I can’t see nothing, I’m looking out of one eye’.
“But it got better as the rounds went on, and we’ll be back.”
And the former champ finished by saying: “It was a good twelve rounder so I’ll be in a good place when we get back into training to pick up where we left off.”
It’s not yet clear when or where a rematch between the pair will be, but AJ is desperate to avenge his first-ever stadium defeat.
Although promoter Eddie Hearn has warned that AJ will need ‘big changes’ to win any potential second bout between the pair.
Hearn told Sky Sports Box Office: “He will have to make some big changes in the rematch to avenge that defeat.
“He will want to go straight back into that rematch.”
🥊 Joshua vs Usyk LIVE: Follow all the post-fight reaction
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
