Anthony Joshua: My emotions got the better of me, I’ll be better from this point on

Oleksandr Usyk’s win over Anthony Joshua on Saturday was followed by Joshua going on an in-ring rant that veered all over the place, which got him roasted on social media pretty hard.

Today, Joshua says that he definitely let his emotions get the better of him, and gave an update on social media. He led by wishing Usyk continue success and called him a “class act.”

“Yesterday I had to mentally take myself into a dark place to compete for the championship belts!” he wrote. “I had two fights, one with Usyk and one with my emotions, and both got the better of me.

“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.”

I, personally, did not think it was all that bad; I know many of you disagree, but that’s my opinion on it. Messy, yes, ill-timed, absolutely, but to me it seemed like simply too much emotion and on top of that, being a guy someone was going to give a live mic to at all. They weren’t going to have security tackle him and take him out of the ring unless it got physical or whatever.

Joshua (24-3, 22 KO) is now in a position where he’s just not in the heavyweight title picture for the first time since 2016. At 32, he still has big fights left to go, he’s still a top name and draw, but he’s at a point where he can sort of rebuild a bit going forward.

A Dillian Whyte rematch may make more sense than ever for both parties, coming off of losses. A fight with someone like Otto Wallin might work. Either way, I’d expect AJ to take a decent break before assessing a lot of things — his training team, his goals from this point on, etc. There’s no immediate rematch waiting after this loss.