Anthony Joshua vs Usyk LIVE: Fight result, reaction and boxing highlights

“Anthony Joshua’s boxing world was turned upside down in north London late on Saturday night in front of nearly 70,000 devoted fans.

Joshua was finished at the end, in pain, lucky to hear the last bell, barely on his feet, both eyes damaged, his nose bleeding and his world heavyweight title belts gone long before the official verdict. He was still throwing punches and never forget that.”

Steve Bunce delivers the final word on AJ’s defeat to Usyk in London.

London continues to be Oleksandr Usyk’s lucky city but the new WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight champion would relish returning to his native Ukraine for a rematch against Anthony Joshua.

Despite giving away three inches in height, four in reach and nearly 20lbs in weight to Joshua, the superior ringcraft of the ex-undisputed world cruiserweight champion was there for all to see in his unanimous decision win.

The 34-year-old’s stunning triumph in just his third heavyweight bout in an electric atmosphere created by more than 66,000 fans at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium carried on his love affair with the English capital.

Usyk collected Olympic heavyweight gold nine years ago the day before Joshua topped the podium in the division above and admitted even his latest success pales in comparison to what he achieved in 2012.

“London is a really lucky city for me but not a single professional victory can be above an Olympic gold,” he said, via a translator. “I would love to have the rematch at Olympiyskiy Stadium in Kiev.”

Anthony Joshua says he’ll be refraining from looking at defeat in a negative light and will only look ahead to his next opportunity.

“If it went well then it would have been perfect but it didn’t so I can’t really look at it and have any regrets.

“What I’m happy about is I can go again and I’ve got a chance of becoming heavyweight champion of the world again. Only positives from here moving forward, I’ve had enough of looking at things from a negative point of view.”

Anthony Joshua has vowed to “keep positive” in the wake of his devastating defeat at the hands of Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday night.

The Ukrainian produced a flawless display to hand Joshua a second defeat of his professional career and dethrone him as IBF, WBO and WBA heavyweight champ.

The former unified cruiserweight champion secured a hugely deserved unanimous points victory (117-112, 116-112, 115-113) in front of more than 63,000 fans at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Anthony Joshua is “already talking about winning the rematch” against Oleksandr Usyk, according to Eddie Hearn.

The former unified cruiserweight champion produced a masterclass to hand Joshua a second defeat of his professional career and dethrone him as IBF, WBO and WBA champ.

The Ukrainian secured a hugely deserved unanimous points victory (117-112, 116-112, 115-113) in front of more than 63,000 fans at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Joshua has a rematch clause and promoter Hearn suggests he’ll be ready to trigger it after a chastening defeat.

Former British heavyweight champion Dillian Whyte accused Anthony Joshua of lacking ambition after he lost his heavyweight titles in a crushing defeat to Oleksandr Usyk.

Hearn in full:

More from Hearn.

Speaking about Usyk, he said: “He goes down in history. No complaints from AJ, but it’s a tough defeat… He chose tonight to take on a pound-for-pound great. It didn’t work out, but he should get credit for that. He was beaten by the better man.”

Eddie Hearn has already confirmed (in typical Hearn fashion) that Anthony Joshua will take the rematch which was in the contract for the fight with Usyk.

He said: “The fighter in AJ is already talking about, ‘I’ll win the rematch.’ Usyk was the deserved winner. He’s got to make changes in the rematch. He will want to go straight back into that rematch.”