Anthony Joshua has been advised to bring in a new team after his corner's "shocking behaviour" following his defeat by Oleksandr Usyk.
'AJ' was looking for revenge over Usyk in August but came up short at the second time of asking when he fell to split-decision defeat. Despite initially showing respect to Usyk following the loss, Joshua's actions came under intense scrutiny when he stormed out of the ring shortly after tossing his rival's belts to the ground in a frustrated outburst.
In an attempt to reconcile, Joshua re-entered the ring and grabbed the microphone but ended up launching into an X-rated rant while hitting out at his own critics. After the uncharacteristic display from Joshua many heaped blame on the heavyweight's team, including Frazer Clarke who suggested his team should have prevented his antics from escalating.
And boxing legend Ricky Hatton has gone one step further by suggesting that he needs to be "saved from himself" by people around him if he ever becomes frustrated again. “He went up to the opposite corner, giving them the fist a little bit," Hatton told Seconds Out when assessing Joshua's behaviour after his latest loss. "That was too heavy for my liking. Someone in that corner should have turned around and said, ‘Oh, AJ is losing it.’
“You just got beat, I get it, and it should have been someone putting their arm around him and saying, ‘Hey AJ, come on, mate. Let’s get out of the ring because you’re not too good.’ No, they allowed it to happen. They allowed him to chuck belts out of the ring. They allowed him to get the microphone. What was his corner doing when they saw him with the microphone? They should never be in anyone’s corner again that lot. Shocking behaviour, shocking corner work.
“Now everyone is having a pop at AJ. AJ could have been saved from all of that stuff by his team. It’s all about having the good team around me. Nobody knows you better than the people that have been with you your whole life. They obviously come over from America. I have no idea why they came over. I think they could have done a lot better for AJ in the corner.”
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Joshua left the ring shortly afterwards but was left extremely upset during the post-fight press conference where he burst into tears while sitting next to promoter Eddie Hearn. And Joshua explained that he wanted his actions to come from the heart after facing previous criticism for not being open enough in public.
"When you try and do things from the heart... it was from the heart," he said. "I knew I was mad at myself, not at anyone, just at myself. I thought I had to get out of there because I was mad. Like anyone, when you're mad you might do stupid things."
