Anthony Joshua has returned to his first amateur gym after losing to Oleksandr Usyk for a second time - and insists his career is far from over.
'AJ' suffered his third career defeat earlier this month when he attempted to exact revenge against Usyk in Saudi Arabia but fell short via split decision. Joshua now faces a challenging rebuild after failing to regain his unified heavyweight titles, and is eyeing a return to the ring this December.
Joshua showed huge frustration after the final bell against Usyk sounded, which culminated in a series of outbursts including a lengthy X-rated rant. It was expected that he would take a spell away from training and a gym environment to spend time with his family after the difficult loss.
However Joshua has today issued a new update posting photos from his old Finchley ABC gym on Instagram, with the caption: "Back to where it started, far from where it ends, I love this game." Joshua first stepped into the London gym aged 18 when he put behind him a difficult past to lace up his gloves and launch a new career.
It was his first-ever training base and played host to a hugely important part of his career before he became an Olympian for Team GB, and moved to his Sheffield training centre with coach Rob McCracken. The last time Joshua was seen at the gym was upon it's reopening following the constraints of the coronavirus pandemic where they were forced to close the doors for the first time since their launch.
Joshua was in a very different position at that point with the looming prospect of an undisputed title fight with rival Tyson Fury. The fight was signed but Fury was forced to take a trilogy bout with Deontay Wilder which derailed the mega-fight and saw Joshua take a mandatory defence against Usyk.
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He is now in an entirely different position having lost to Usyk twice in 11 months, which sees him out of the title picture for the first time in several years. Joshua will now need to fight contenders within the top 15 of the rankings to rebuild momentum, which could include a return duel with the likes of Zhilei Zhang or Chris Arreola.
Despite his phase of uncertainty now approaching, Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn believes he will return to the top and expects him to be back in the ring this December. “I’d like to see him back out. Maybe even in late December,” Hearn said. There’s massive fights for him. Dillian Whyte, Deontay Wilder.
"There’s so many fights for him in the top [10]. There’s even some Brits for him that are coming through in a couple of fights as well.” We’ve just got to see what he wants to do. It’s going to be a tough, tough defeat to take but he’ll be back.”
