BOXING | ANTHONY JOSHUA INTERVIEW

Anthony Joshua: Do I regret my Oleksandr Usyk rant? No way, you can’t always be perfect

The heavyweight denies that a celebrity lifestyle led to his rocky fall from grace
Joshua shows a rawness rarely seen in public as he garbles down the microphone after a second loss to Usyk, left
Joshua shows a rawness rarely seen in public as he garbles down the microphone after a second loss to Usyk, left
LI HAMED KHAMAJ/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK/REX FEATURES

“Everything happened quick, very quick,” Anthony Joshua says, puffing out his cheeks when confronted by the memory of his cringe-making monologue in the desert. It was the moment when the commercial mask slipped, the belts were thrown and Oleksandr Usyk waited stoically in the corner, wiping a solitary tear as Joshua soiled his moment in the limelight and garbled down the microphone.

There was a rawness to Joshua that night rarely seen in public, veering from denial to despair when he later broke down at his press conference, and a sense of embarrassment, even shame, that left reasonable doubts about his future and invasive thoughts of retirement.

The term “rock bottom” is always relative, particularly in boxing, where success is forged from courage and adversity