Anthony Joshua's coach believes the star was looking to find an excuse for his defeat by Oleksandr Usyk when he launched into his post-fight rant.
'AJ' travelled to Saudi Arabia knowing he faced an uphill battle to earn his redemption against Usyk, and despite showing significant improvement, he lost on a split decision. After the fight Joshua was very frustrated with the outcome and embarked on a tirade of anger-fuelled outbursts including storming out of the ring.
He then grabbed hold of the microphone and launched an X-rated rant where he defended his defeat by explaining his journey to become a professional boxer while hitting out at his critics. And his coach Robert Garcia believes Joshua shouldn't have behaved in that manner but did the right thing by apologising and moving on from the situation.
“I feel that he was trying to look for an excuse with the people who were supporting him," Garcia explained in an interview with IZQUIERDAZO. “Any fighter can feel the same. He exploded, and acted in a way that he shouldn’t have behaved like that. But it was something that he understood at that very moment, he came back to the ring, apologised, and then everything had a good ending.
“When he was in the dressing room, changing clothes, I could see his frustration. He couldn’t believe that he lost. He didn't want to lose, of course, I know him, he didn’t want to lose. He was still upset, but we were able to relax him a little bit."
Joshua's frustration was evident for all to see with many criticising his actions and left questioning why he wasn't prevented from grabbing the microphone. The British star suffered his third career defeat and now faces a long journey back to fighting for the unified titles he held prior to his first fight with Usyk last September.
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Despite showing improvements, Joshua was unable to capitalise on any significant opportunities to close the show despite hurting Usyk in the ninth with a barrage of aggressive shots. His frustration will continue to mount up if Usyk manages to secure an undisputed title fight with Tyson Fury, which has been a long-term goal of Joshua.
After the fight Joshua explained he let his frustration boil over in the ring which led to a series of bizarre events which left Usyk shocked in the ring after the fight. "When you try and do things from the heart it was from the heart," he said while holding back tears at the post-fight press conference.
"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. Then I realised, 'S*** it's a sport, let's do the right thing and come back'."
