"I respect Usyk, but..." Joshua told how the Ukrainian inflicted a mental trauma on him

Former two-time world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (26-3, 23 KOs) called his defeat in the rematch against Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) the most painful in his career. The Watford native noted that he took the loss very hard, which had a strong psychological impact on his mentality.

Joshua said this in an interview with DAZN, according to secondsout.com. According to the Briton, the reason for the second defeat by Usyk was the Ukrainian's superiority in psychology, and Anthony himself agreed that he had not done enough to win.

"The biggest defeat? The rematch with Usyk. It was a big blow. I respect Usyk, absolutely, but it was an insulting defeat. It was a weak performance. I shouldn't have lost in my head. I give my life for this sport. Believe me. I'm a little bit depressed. The only thing we get recognition for is winning. The way I gave it my all was not enough to win, I know that," Joshua said.

As a reminder, the rematch between the British and Ukrainian took place in August 2022 and ended with Usyk's victory by split decision - 115-113, 113-115, 116-112.

On September 21, Joshua will fight Daniel Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs). At stake will be the International Boxing Federation (IBF) belt, which our compatriot gave up after defeating Tyson Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs).

After that, former world champion Carl Froch called Usyk's title, which will be played by Joshua and Dubois, a paper title.

As OBOZ.UA previously reported, Oleksandr Usyk called Anthony Joshua the only boxer he would like to fight after the rematch with Tyson Fury.

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