ANTHONY JOSHUA has been accused of “stealing” Oleksandr Usyk’s moment during his post-match tantrum by Carl Froch.
Joshua lost to Usyk on Satuday in Saudi Arabia via split decision, which marked his second successive defeat to the Ukrainian star.
After the result was announced, AJ threw the 35-year-old’s belts out of the ring before appearing to storm off.
The British boxing star then decided to return to the squared circle to hijack the mic and deliver a bizarre speech to the live crowd.
Former boxing star Froch described Joshua’s decision to throw the belts as “disrespectful” and believes he stole Usyk’s thunder with his rant.
Froch said: “He stole Usyk’s moment. He didn’t say anything that would offend anybody too much. He stole Usyk’s moment.
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“He was emotionally built up. I didn’t like the belts being chucked. It was disrespectful.”
Joshua’s rant involved him comparing himself to the likes of Mike Tyson and Rocky Marciano.
But the Brit did praise Usyk after another phenomenal performance in Jeddah.
Joshua said: “If you knew my story you would understand the passion. I ain’t no amateur boxer from five-years-old that was an elite prospect from youth.
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“I was going to jail, I got bail and I started training my a*s off, I wanted to be able to fight. I’m stealing this Usyk I’m sorry, but it’s because of the passion we put into this.
“This guy to beat me tonight, maybe I could have done better, but it shows the level of hard work I put in so please give him a round of applause as our heavyweight champion of the world.
“I’m not a 12-round fighter, look at me, I’m a new breed of heavyweights, Mike Tyson, Sonny Liston, Jack Dempsey, ‘you don’t throw combinations like Rocky Marciano’, I’m 18 stone, I’m heavy, it’s hard work.
“This guy here is a phenomenal talent, we’re going to cheer for him three times.”
Joshua later broke into tears during his press conference as he explained his post-match tantrum came “from the heart” and occurred as a result of him being “mad” at himself.
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
