After losing his rematch to Oleksandr Usyk last weekend, Anthony Joshua threw his world heavyweight belts out of the ring, according to top boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, saying that he had "lost trust in the system."
Joshua lost the WBO, WBA, IBO, and IBF championships he had previously held against Usyk in their first meeting in September at London's Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
After being defeated by Usyk by split decision, an upset AJ assaulted members of his team, threw his opponent's belts out of the ring, and then gave an odd post-fight speech.
Hearn said of the incident: "Those regulatory bodies have charged him a lot of money and put a lot of mandates on him. He's hung onto those belts for a long time."
And I believe he has lost a great deal of faith in the system, as well as his enthusiasm in competing for belts. He probably just wants to fight for fun and to push himself.
He wanted to be unchallenged, of course, but a lot of that was dissatisfaction.
He exited the ring because he was certain that he would act foolishly. He forced himself to say, "I can't (simply leave)," and he returned to the ring to make a speech while being a little disoriented. But all it was was emotion. That was purely an act of the heart.
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