Anthony Joshua Taken to Hospital to Check Eye Socket
Anthony Joshua, who has been dethroned as world boxing heavyweight champions, is set to go to the hospital to check a suspected broken eye socket.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn, who made this announcement moments after he lost to Oleksandr Usyk of Ukraine on Saturday in London, said also that his fighter was “devastated” by the defeat.
He however acknowledged that the Joshua camp had no reservations about the result, and the better fighter won the bout.
“Congratulations to Oleksandr Usyk. What a fighter. He put in a great performance and the better man won. I had it reasonably close in the eighth and then Usyk ran away with it,” Hearn said.
Usyk dethroned Joshua in his own backyard with a stunning display to earn a unanimous points decision in front of a sell-out crowd at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The 34-year-old former undisputed cruiserweight world champion put on a stellar performance to silence the vast majority of the 67,000 fans who packed into the huge arena.
Usyk, giving away height, weight, and reach to the champion, proved too elusive for Joshua throughout an enthralling contest and landed the much cleaner shots.
He finished with a flurry in round 12 as he went in search of a knockout.
Joshua stayed upright but the decision was a formality as Usyk seized the WBA, WBO, IBF, and IBO belts with the three judges scoring it 117-112, 116-112, 115-113.
Former Olympic champion Usyk, contesting only his third professional heavyweight fight, follows in the footsteps of compatriots Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko.
The Klitschko Brothers dominated the division for a decade from 2004 to 2015.
He is only the third cruiserweight world champion to step up a weight and become the heavyweight world champion after Evander Holyfield and David Haye, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
Fury takes on American Deontay Wilder in Las Vegas on October 9.