Anthony Joshua's body language analysed following Usyk defeat

Anthony Joshua’s was in a state of aggressive arousal in backstage outburst and was suffering from cognitive confusion during his bizarre post-fight speech, body language expert explains following his defeat by Oleksandr Usyk

  • Anthony Joshua launched into a bizarre post-fight speech on Saturday night
  • Joshua lost his rematch against Oleksandr Usyk in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
  • Body language expert Judi James says AJ was in a state of ‘aggressive arousal’ 
  • Joshua’s erratic antics appeared to be provoked by a voice in the crowd 

Anthony Joshua suffered the third defeat of his professional career on Saturday once again finding himself on the wrong side of a judges’ decision against Oleksandr Usyk in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Looking to recapture his heavyweight gold, AJ produced a much-improved performance compared to the one seen in Tottenham back in September, but it ultimately wouldn’t be enough to dethrone the Ukrainian, who masterfully utilised feints and lateral movement to frustrate Joshua throughout the twelve rounds.

Despite one judge viewing the bout in his favour, Joshua would come up short once again in his attempt to defeat the former cruiserweight champion and stormed out of the ring after the decision was read.

Anthony Joshua (right) was defeated by Oleksandr Usyk in their rematch on Saturday night

British heavyweight star Joshua appeared dejected after the judges’ decision was announced

Though the fight will be remembered as a showcase of both the tenacity, and the technicality of both fighters, the action in the ring was ultimately overshadowed by a bizarre post-fight speech delivered by the former champion. 

But why did the usually cool calm and collected heavyweight lose his head in Jeddah? Sportsmail‘s body language expert Judi James gives her opinion on what caused Joshua to deliver his erratic monologue post-fight…

Judi James: Backstage, walking away after the fight, we can see a glimpse of much angrier body language signals emerge as someone in the crowd shouts out to ‘keep it professional’.

The former champion launched into a bizarre monologue after returning to the ring post-fight

Joshua’s comments following the fight came as he was in a state of ‘cognitive confusion’

Walking out, Joshua is still strutting and presenting more like a winner at that point but the criticism brings his brows down in a scowl and his entire facial expression changes as he seems to seek the guy out in a state of what looks like aggressive arousal.

We can see his entourage stepping in this time to spirit him away and this could be the point where the reality of what happened is beginning to sink in after the earlier performance of what looked like cognitive confusion after a brutal fight.




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