Anthony Joshua has revealed he had issues with his vision starting in the ninth round of his fight with Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday night, as the two-time former heavyweight champion, loat to the Ukrainer.
Joahua failed to make use of his 18lb weight advantage over former cruiserweight king Usyk, who landed a barrage of heavy southpaw shots throughout the bout at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium.
By the 10th round of a thrilling contest, AJ had a visible black and swollen eye as Usyk took control of the bout.
The Ukrainian finished with a flourish in the final rounds to put the result beyond doubt and seal a the unanimous 117-112, 116-112 and 115-113 verdict was announced at White Hart Lane.
Joshua was promptly escorted from the ring and taken to hospital for tests.
In the late stages of the fight, Joshua began to have issues with his vision after several punches to his face from his mandatory challenger Oleksandr Usyk at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Joshua, who is now looking to activate his rematch clause, had this to say after the fight.
“I can’t go back and sulk – that’s wasting time. “I couldn’t see in the ninth round, couldn’t see anything really because my eye was shut.
“It was a good experience because in adversity you’ve just got to learn to control yourself, stay on top of things, so when I couldn’t see anything – it’s the first time that it’s happened in a fight.”
“I’m ready to get back to training. It was a good twelve rounder, so I’ll be in a good place when I get back into training to pick up where we left off,” Joshua said.