Anthony Joshua admits he had to ‘fight with his emotions’ during defeat to Oleksandr Usyk

Anthony Joshua has spoken out on social media for the first time following his split-decision loss to Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia on Saturday evening.

The Brit was emotionally-charged as he gave a bizarre post-fight monologue from the ring following the devastating defeat that saw him miss out on the chance to regain his previously-held heavyweight championship belts.

Joshua then teared up during his post-fight press conference after being asked whether he was proud of how he had performed against the Ukrainian.

Joshua praised his competitor in a short statement posted on his Twitter account

The British boxer (right) said he had to take himself to a ‘dark place’ for his fight with Usyk

The former champ revealed he had to take himself to a ‘dark place’ for the rematch with Usyk and explained his emotions got the better of him in a short statement posted online.

Writing on his Twitter less than 24 hours later, Joshua said:

‘I wish Usyk continued success in your quest for greatness. 

‘You are a class act champ. Yesterday I had to mentally take myself into a dark place to compete for the championship belts!

Joshua was fuming following the fight and threw Usyk’s belts out the ring after the result

The Englishman broke down in tears during his post-fight press conference in Saudi Arabia

‘I had two fights, one with Usyk and one with my emotions and both got the better of me.’

The Watford-born orthodox boxer then provided a further update in a later Tweet, as he admitted to letting himself down: 

‘I’ll be the first to admit, I let my self down. I acted out of pure passion and emotion and when not controlled it ain’t great. 

‘I love this sport so so much and I’ll be better from this point on. Respect.’

Joshua was hoping to regain his status as world heavyweight champion during his rematch against the Ring magazine number two pound-for-pound fighter as the bout went the distance at the King Abdullah Sports City arena.

However his actions following the result have somewhat grabbed more attention than the result itself with Joshua coming in for heavy criticism for his response to defeat.

Joshua threw two of Usyk’s belts out of the ring and onto the floor at the end as he headed for his changing room before storming back to shake Usyk’s hand.

Anthony Joshua (left) is expected to take a break from boxing while Oleksandr Usyk targets a unification bout with Englishman Tyson Fury

He then stole the in-ring microphone and went on an x-rated rant, discussing the fight, his career, the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, and also leading cheers to his opponent.

Joshua will now take an expected hiatus from boxing as he works out what next steps to take while Usyk targets a heavyweight unification fight with Tyson Fury.