AJ fuming with Loma post fight

I submit the scorecard of Glenn Feldman as Exhibit A, lol.

You know the deck was stacked. Eddie’s probably fixing it so the Brit judge is handling 8-year-old amateurs in Blackpool for the rest of his days for bucking the plan.

 

You guys are reaching. He was clearly disappointed with himself. He didn’t want to take Loma’s praise because in his mind, if he really had boxed well, he should have won so “**** that”. Come on, people. He felt good boy’d (great job, you did well! here’s your consolation prize). Not saying it wasn’t rude but some of you are way off with your assessment.

 

****s sake this is so off the mark.

 

"With honour"?

What's honorable about throwing Usyk's belts out of the ring? What's honorable about throwing a temper tantrum after losing a fight? What's honorable about trying to spoil Usyk's win by grabbing the microphone and going on about nearly going to prison?

If Joshua had accepted defeat like a man should, I would respect him. If he had the intelligence to control his emotions, like a grown man should, then I would respect him. But he behaved like an angry child and made a fool of himself in front of the world.

You don't seem to understand what honor and good sportsmanship is.

 

The pressure he's had on him for the last two years would take its toll on any man. Imagine two years living with the expectation you have to beat the best boxer in the sport. Living with a man like Usyk on your mind non-stop has got to be mentally draining.
Maybe he should've had an interim fight to raise his confidence and belief in himself because that outburst was two years of pent up stress , pressure and anxiety escaping him. I think he deserves to be cut a break

 

I think he snapped cos he realised he's not on Usyk's level and never will be.

He believed the hype that's been created around him but I think finally realised he's simply not at the very top level. Doesn't matter how hard he works or what he changes.

Or naybe not. Who knows. He's a strange bloke.

 

I disagree. There’s not ‘clearly’ to me at all. It’s your spin or interpretation.

You’re acting like no one but AJ has ever lost a fight before and cared.

How does ‘I am disappointed in myself’ translate to ‘I think I’ll steal his championship belts and trash them by throwing them out of the ring’? That’s directed not at himself — they’re not his belts. How does ‘I am disappointed in myself’ translate to the action of taking Usyk’s Ukrainian flag and draping himself in it? How does it translate to the action of swiping and hogging the mic — he literally said, ‘I’m STEALING this, sorry,’ so he clearly knows it’s Usyk’s moment and he’s making a conscious decision to take it away.

Show me one action that was directed toward himself if his motivation was disappointment in himself. He didn’t punch himself in the head or utter a word about being disappointed in himself. Not one shred of what happened backs up your conclusion, which you say is ‘clearly’ obvious.

 

Well if he just said that instead of acting like a tit then maybe there wouldn't be any confusion.

 

It was a bad, cringe night for AJ overall--he looked shaken. It's normal. I don't think many people understand the mentality it takes to get into the ring and give your life to a sport. Being crazy and vulnerable at your worst moment. Having taken a double loss to end your title reign in front of the world to put you back down at the doorstep of contention will do some wild things to the psyche. Yeah, we'd prefer a composed loser, and many have provided examples on how to lose with grace, but it isn't mandatory. I don't gauge "graceful loser" as a category in my all time great rankings. Nor do I rate post-fight speeches/meltdowns. A lot of my favorites of all time were sore losers. Frazier: "I did that to him." Tommy Hearns' massage. Klitschko's tainted water. Stuff like that. Yeah, he's dramatic and stealing the moment. A lot of boxers box to perform. People have had drug induced meltdowns in the ring or walked out of the ropes mid-fight. It's just what happens when you perform violence for a living--it attracts some characters.

 

One thing I'd like to add to counter some of AJ's meltdown, is that in some ways he is damned if he does & damned if he doesn't...

...back when Joshua was stopped by Ruiz, he came in for huge roasting due to his reaction - all smiles, not really looking pissed off or disappointed.

Fast forward to this, and whist it was pretty classless, I think he was at least wearing his heart on his sleeve and folks could see he was gutted & frustrated.

For me personally, having always been very doubtful of the "media-mask", regardless of the crass nature of his outburst, he went up in my estimation as a fighter, because I could see how disappointed he was.