Mike Tyson Offers Praise For How Anthony Joshua Handled Himself In Defeat

Anthony Joshua suffered just his second defeat at the hands of Oleksandr Usyk on Sept. 25, losing his WBA, IBF, WBO AND IBO heavyweight titles. One legend, however, was very impressed with the way Joshua handled himself after the loss.

55-year-old former world champion Mike Tyson said in a tweet that he watched the fight back and walked away impressed as ever with Joshua.

While Tyson was very complimentary of Joshua after rewatching the fight, he was ringing a different tune in the moments after Usyk was declared the victor.

Joshua's lone defeat before the unanimous decision loss to Usyk happened back in June 2019, when Andy Ruiz Jr. took down the Brit in his first fight on American soil at Madison Square Garden. Joshua regained the titles back in Dec., but now must regroup to face Usyk in a return bout in 2022.

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

“I’m not a weak person. I’m not a sulker. I’m not going to go home and cry about it because this is war. It’s a long process. This isn’t just one fight and I’m done, I’ve got an opportunity to go back to the drawing board.”