The British heavyweight champion’s first DO after his heartbreaking loss and subsequent breakdown: Anthony Joshua was seen playing chess with friend and coach JC Elite in Saudi Arabia
Anthony Joshua has been spotted for the first time since his demoralising rematch defeat against Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday night.
The Brit, who was beaten on points by Usyk for a second time in Saudi Arabia, is seen playing chess with friend and coach JC Elite in an Instagram post shared by the latter from Jeddah.
The picture is captioned ‘Rest, recover, regroup we move and go again’, hinting that AJ is already looking towards his next fight.
Anthony Joshua (right) was seen playing chess with friend and coach JC Elite in Saudi Arabia
Joshua (left) was beaten by Oleksandr Usyk via split-decision on Saturday in Saudi Arabia
The 32-year-old was beaten by Usyk via split decision as he faced his Ukrainian counterpart again in the Middle East, following defeat at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium when they first met last September.
Many believe Joshua should take a hiatus from boxing as he works out what to do next after suffering a second straight defeat for the first time in his career.
The loss against Usyk was his third in five fights following his previous shortcoming in north London and a surprise 2019 loss to Andy Ruiz Jr, which he rectified with a rematch win later that year.
Joshua’s defeat to Usyk (right) was his second straight defeat and his third in five fights
Following his latest defeat, AJ suffered a meltdown while struggling to come to terms with it, which saw him chuck Usyk’s belts out of the ring and launch a bizarre post-fight tirade.
But he followed up his emotional reaction by conceding on Twitter: I wish @usykaa 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! I had two fights, one with Usyk and one with my emotions and both got the better of me.
‘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’.
Tyson Fury (pictured) will have to come out of retirement in order to fight Usyk next
After the fight with Joshua, Usyk admitted he is targeting an undisputed showdown with WBC champion Tyson Fury next.
Fury recently announced his retirement from boxing, but the Gypsy King has since admitted he could be tempted to come out of retirement and face Usyk if the deal is right.
Team Fury are in talks over a deal which would eclipse Usyk and Joshua’s £85million rematch, with a potential meeting between him and the former undisputed cruiserweight king eyed for December 17.