O/T Joshua v Usyk...

I agree with some of that, i remeber when joshua fought dillian whyte and in the glove are off dillian whyte said something like "ive known this guy from the amuters, why you putting a act on pretending to be a nice guy etc etc"

 

Yeah and he made Dillian Whyte out to be a jealous fool and dismissed his claims out of hand.

 

Great example! Dillian is an example of someone who has had to stand on his own two feet and make his own way, no PR and endless sponsorship campaigns to inflate his ego and bank balance. And he says it how it is - in that gloves are off AJ was shook because he knew Whyte had him sussed from way back. AJ tried to play it cool but had his head down, struggled to make eye contact, and played down what Dillian was saying to save face. When Dillian lost to Fury the contrast with AJ was stark; he took the defeat with good grace, no excuses and he let Fury enjoy the win.

 

It's a shame the class he shows outside the ring doesn't match his boxing talent. White will always come up just short for me. Outstanding effort. He's more a warrior than a boxer. A scrapper.

 

Yeh I like Dillian but as a boxer I see him as average unfortunately. My good friend is half-Jamaican and he always jokes that he should be rooting for the guy but he can't bring himself to, because he's all mouth but doesn't deliver. But we see the funny side with him, and he's a genuine person, no bullsh1t.

 

Here is the lack of decorum in its entirety: (34) UNCUT! Anthony Joshua's full reaction after Oleksandr Usyk defeat - YouTube

I can excuse the rant in the heat of the moment, but snatching Usyk's belts, throwing them to the floor, shouting at his team, snatching the flag draped around Usyk's shoulders, telling Usyk to 'shut up, I'm talking'.. this isn't just passion, this is total disrespect. Usyk was clearly shook and showed his class, an incredible fighter and a very humble human being. A worthy champ (and not for the 'how many belts have you got now bro' 5 cheers from AJ).

 

It's becoming a common trend among elite athletes. For that long they've had traditional loser speak and were used to sucking up defeats. The modern mentality has changed and is win at all costs. To a certain degree I like it but not when it throws up events like this. That was just pure disrespect as you say.

Just the other week James Peaty did the same after he was beaten in the Commonwealth 100m in the pool. He had to back track and apologise too. The media have to back off and let them have a moment otherwise that mic might as well be a stick of dynamite.

 

Imagine trying all your life for something and then losing it. Surprised more sporting stars don't go a bit off script.

AJ has done some great stuff in terns of promoting the sport and himself, maybe the public just expect too much from their sporting heroes. This boxing debate reminds me of the Ronaldo v Messi disucssion, is it possible to accept that, although they are very different both AJ and Tyson are great/very good boxers. I'm from a generation when our best hope of a heavyweight champion was Richard Dunn, before Frank Bruno came along.

 

What about Joe Bugner?

 

I do think fundamentally it comes down to the type of person you are and how much you let yourself be influenced by others and the occasion. As other commentators have pointed out, the real 'struggle' in this fight was with Usyk, who has just come back from a literal war. AJ is moaning about having to go to a 'dark place' for this fight; I don't think any fighter has gone through what Usyk has gone through this year and, in the moment, AJ failed to remember that, and Usyk should have been able to enjoy his win with dignity and relief, not having to deal with the scatterbrained Joshua.

I think a key issue with AJ is that he has a victim mentality; he was even complaining that he didn't have the amateur career that Usyk had, which is true, but it's hardly Usyk's fault that he started boxing very young and AJ did not. AJ needs to get his head straight, and I hope he seeks some peace and reassesses what gives him fulfillment before even thinking about getting back in the ring.

 

I agree mate and I have commended AJ for apologizing in the press conference. But there's something deeper here beyond a knee-jerk in-the-ring reaction. I am a huge fan of Fury by the way, I've been defending him to my girlfriend since Saturday night* when he took to social media and, wrongly, said the fight was awful and didn't show any respect to either fighter and in a sense kicked AJ when he was down. That is wrong and I won't defend it. I guess what it comes down to is that I see the human side of Fury despite all the misgivings and the false rumours that he shouldn't start; with AJ i see someone who is lost, who needs a lot of help, and on Saturday's showing someone who i can't identify with. I hope he gets some help, truly.

*edit: defending him in a wider sense rather than how Fury acted on Saturday night. Defending him as something much more than 'oh he just lies' and evaluating the bigger picture. But I'm not defending his lies. Dear me, it's complicated with Fury!

 

Does anyone think there's a bit of frustration from AJ that he didn't fight for the other belt whilst he held the three titles.

 

It just reminds me of Rocky 3 stuck on repeat for his last 5 fights.

 

Seconded. And Usyk is clearly a better fighter than Joshua. But then Joshua is better than many of his peers.

 

Exactly!

 

Think that's a very fair assessment. Both men have a lot of faults but Fury does come across are more human.
I think Joshua is probably surrounded by people feeding his ego and building him up.
Look at this clip I come across.
The sooner he gets yes men idiots like this out of his head space and surrounds himself with people actually trying to help him with sensible and honest advice/opinions the better he'll be.

 

What about Joe Johnson? The only Yorkshire Snooker world champion ever.

 

Movie Script.

AJ the PR dream starts from nothing wins the Olympic Gold and the promoters seize their opportunity. He gets fast tracked to be World Champion and stay undefeated. Whilst he is champ he doesn't fight for the full set. Instead fighting challengers laid out by his management team. He softens and loses his focus. Usyk (Clubber Lang) comes along and pinches his belt.

AJ goes a way and trains hard to be World Champion and gives a great fight but comes up short. The promoters start to see weaknesses and he has to prove himself all over again.

The promoter and media move onto a new darling in Tyson Fury as they crave that British undisputed Heavy weight champion.