Even as he prepares to fight Robert Helenius on Saturday night, Anthony Joshua is still stung by a certain loss on his professional ledger.
"[Oleksandr] Usyk 2 — massively! But I respect Usyk. I respect him, but it just hurt, the defeat," Joshua told DAZN about the loss that hurt the most.
"It was a weak performance by me. I wasn’t supposed to lose in my head and it just … I give my life to this game, man. I give everything. I swear to you, I give a lot. And it just tore me apart."
Joshua had lost his WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles by unanimous decision to Usyk, who was still new to the heavyweight division, in September 2021.
He activated a rematch clause and had a respectable showing against Usyk in their second fight nearly a year later before the latter defended his unified heavyweight crown — this time by split-decision.
Joshua delivered a rather notorious speech in the ring following that August 2022 loss and to this day, the defeat irks him.
"When you put everything into something and it’s not easy ..." he began saying.
"The only thing we get credit for is winning and what I gave wasn’t enough."
Though it was yet another learning experience for the 33-year-old Joshua (25-3, 22 KOs), who is trained by Derrick James, and looking to dispose of Helenius before moving onto a bigger fight.