Anthony Joshua continued to fight Jermaine Franklin after the final bell as tempers frayed between the rivals.
Joshua outpointed his American rival after 12 lacklustre rounds of his heavyweight comeback fight in London on Saturday night. But after the bout was brought to a close, Joshua tapped Franklin on the head before appearing to push his head into his opponent before the referee stepped in.
By then both men's corners had involved themselves in the ruckus before calm was restored with Joshua later apologising, referencing his meltdown following his rematch defeat by Oleksandr Usyk last August, saying: "Listen, last time I grabbed the mic it was a bit chaotic. So I'm calm, I appreciate every single person coming out this evening. Inside this squared circle, it's a different kind of energy in here so I apologise for anybody watching and seeing that type of stuff [at the end] because we're sportsmen.
"But I respect Jermaine, I respect everyone here tonight. Eddie thank you for this opportunity and fans, everybody watching at home thank you as well. If it weren't a knockout it was important to get the win. You see Jermaine's got a good duck and dive style. Someone else from Britain will knock him out, probably.
"There were opportunities there, but he knew how to tuck up. Respect to him, he done well and I respect him for that. Well done to him and his team for preparing. You know that they were prepared for the fight, I should have knocked him out but what can I say? It's done and on to the next."
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Joshua had lost three of his last five fights, which included consecutive losses to Oleksandr Usyk, but he tasted success again for the first time since 2020 after the judges scored the London bout 118-111, 117-111 and 117-111 in favour of the home favourite.
Joshua regularly landed with his left jab and caught Franklin on a number of occasions with his powerful right but the American heavyweight stood firm.
