Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua vs. Jermaine Franklin & Austin Williams vs. River WIlson-Bent RBR.

Yeh his reasoning seemed to be that lomachenko said to him “you are strong”, and that when people praise African footballers it’s to do with their strength and never their skills level, so was a patronising comment by Loma based on his race. Bizarre

 

@jimmyonebomb, @Bob Flaps - any chance of posting a link? Would be interested to see how this was said.

I don't necessarily expect Ukranians to be the most politically correct people in the world, and probably slightly insensitive (at least, in comparison to the UK populous) but I doubt there was any malice intended. Sounds like a huge reach by Joshua really.

 

Yeah a reach for sure. Likewise I don’t doubt that Ukrainians probably are less PC and a bit more “racist” than most western countrymen but Team Usyk personify class and respect and there is not a chance in hell they’d have said anything to Joshua with a racist or stereotypical element. He IS a “strong” fighter, nothing to do with his heritage.

 

Completely agree. It's impossible to judge anyone who's not from the Anglosphere by the same "moral compass" (regardless whether you believe it's gone too far) due to the way our culture has shifted.

Usyk always conducts himself with class and poise, I don't think for a second anything said (whether by Usyk, his team or Lomachenko) was meant with any malice. The culture (and second language english) just lends people more direct communication. That's not necessarily a bad thing in my eyes.

 

Black fighters do get praised for skill (countless USA boxers and UK legends like herol Graham, Lennox, eubank etc) He was reaching with that excuse for his behaviour

 

Joshua loves to make excuses "I'm not a twelve round fighter" "I'm from the superior black race" all that stuff he spews. Mentally shot to bits for all to see.

 

Naive defending there from the Africans but very athletic.

 

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Although I think @jimmyonebomb already said more of it above... 5:45 in for that particular segment.

 

Thanks for that, and sharing the timestamp.

It's an interesting point in fairness to Joshua. I agree that in football, black/African players get lazily lumped together. For example, if you had a Nigerian box to box midfielder breaking through - 9x out of 10 he'll be compared to Yaya Toure over Steven Gerrard regardless of the nuances of his play style.

It does sound like, if Lomachenko simply said (verbatim) "you're strong", Joshua is reaching quite a bit. He was clearly emotional after both Usyk fights so may have been far more receptive to taking offence or reading into things.

 

Yeah, I don't disagree, but to drop it in randomly like this 6 months later is just odd. No idea where Joshua's head is just now or how badly he's being advised.

 

To be fair he didn't directly say Lomachenko was "racist". Radio Rahim put it in the title for clicks. Anyhow, I don't think Lomachenko meant any disrespect with his comment at all.

Also, Joshua's face looks exactly the same post-fight as before-fight. He didn't take any damage at all and probably could have done another 12 rounds.

 

Poor from Wireless Rahim

 

get this paranoid wreck the number of Froch’s psychologist asap

 

Joshua had already spat his dummy out massively before he'd even met Loma. He was half way out of the arena at one point. So he's clearly taking bollox to try and justify his meltdown or he really is just a moron.

 

Aye mate I posted that comment during the Wardley fight but looked like there was still a few during the main event.