Joshua blames team for Usyk loss

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Former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua has admitted he thought he would win his first fight against Oleksandr Usyk because his team hadn't given him information to suggest otherwise.

This led to AJ's decision to cut ties with Rob McCracken and the rest of his practice squad after they failed to tell him he was losing to in Usyk.

AJ was outshot in 12 rounds last September at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and immediately after the fight his cornering work was called into question.

Joshua, 32, surprisingly opted to try and dispatch Usyk, 35, and never went back to a plan B as the fight got away from him.

"There was a lot going on in the corner and it didn't help. A corner is like a pit stop," Joshua told Boxing Scene. total to calm you down, hydrate you and simple instructions. This is how you should do it. Too many voices at once is definitely not good for anyone. I was told things like "Double jab, right hook, left hook ", it wasn't like, "Go fight that motherfucker, look, you're losing the fight".

“A coach has to tap into that psychological aspect now, because if you can overcome your mind, you can give more. I swear I thought I was [winning]. I thought I looked like Muhammad Ali in there. I can show you sparring footage where I'm on the ropes leaning back. They tell you to train for adversity, don't they.

"So put your hands down and let some motherfucker punch you and you sit down, sit down, sit down. That's how you gain confidence. So, in the fight of 12, I do this thing.

"Throughout the fight I thought I was winning but at this point I knew it was close. I thought at this point I was good in the fight because there didn't seem to be any real communication as to where I was like, 'you're losing this fight…you're two rounds behind.' I didn't get it.

"I don't blame anyone saying this but I didn't feel like I lost the fight. I thought we were good in it. That's why when they announced the name , I was kind of like "huh?"