September 26, (THEWILL) – Anthony Joshua’s boxing promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed the dethroned heavyweight champion needs to be taken to the hospital to treat an eye injury suffered in his defeat to Oleksandr Usyk in Saturday’s heavyweight bout.
The former IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight champion lost to Usyk by unanimous decision at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The still undefeated Ukrainian seized all three world titles after a scintillating display that Joshua simply did not match.
Usyk gained points throughout the contest with his shots marking up the Brit all through the fight but especially towards the end of the contest that saw Joshua needing the intervention of the bell to see off the 12th round.
Although there was a nasty cut just above Usyk’s right eye at about the 10th round, as THEWILL reported, Joshua’s right eye began to swell up about the same time. The swelling became prominent enough to obscure his vision from that eye in the closing stages of the bout, as Joshua himself confirmed post-match.
Speaking about the damage to the right eye that Joshua endured, Hearn suggested his fighter may have suffered a broken eye socket. Hearn said: “When he lost in New York everyone started analysing the dressing room, the ring walk. He was fine, he was maybe a little too relaxed on the ring walk, he was shaking everyone’s hand, he was hugging a few people that is just AJ but I feel it was the wrong type of performance.
“Sometimes you have to use your attributes. [Joshua] never really got going, he will go to hospital now, I don’t know if he has broken his eye socket, it doesn’t look great.”
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
