Oleksandr Usyk didn't leave the ring unscathed after his win against Anthony Joshua, as the heavyweight champion sported two black eyes at the airport whilst preparing to fly home.
Usyk made the first defence of his heavyweight titles since winning them against Joshua last September by outpointing his British rival in their rematch on Saturday night. One judge bizarrely scored the fight 115-113 in Joshua's favour despite Usyk being the clear winner after 12 rounds, with the other two having it 115-113 and 116-122 in favour of the Ukrainian.
The heavyweight champion was spotted in Jeddah International airport on his way home following the 20th win of his professional career. With two black eyes and his daughter's Disney toy poking out of his Louis Vuitton backpack, Usyk gave his trademark "I am feel, I am very feel" response to a bystander who asked how he was feeling following the fight.
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Usyk walked around during fight week with a stuffed toy of the Winnie the Pooh character Eeyore, explaining that it was given to him by his daughter before he left Ukraine. "It's my daughter's. She gave it to me to be my talisman. We bought it when we were all together in Disneyland Paris", he explained. "When we left Ukraine together but our roads separated in Europe, my daughter gave this toy to me and said, 'This needs to be right next to you.' It sleeps with me, is always close to me."
Joshua stormed out of the ring following his loss to Usyk, only to walk back moments later and issue a bizarre post-fight speech that left many fans confused. 'AJ' dragged Usyk to the centre of the ring and praised his resilience for winning the fight despite the ongoing war in his home country, with Usyk admitting things got have gotten ugly if Joshua continued to press his teammates.
"I feel nothing but respect for Anthony Joshua, he was a bit emotional and he was pulling some of my team-mates," he said. "I don’t recommend him a bare knuckle fight with them because they are horrible street fighters." Usyk also used his microphone time to hit out at Russian President Vlaidmir Putin amid the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, as he said: "Everything he shows is just to show that he's strong, but he's not. Otherwise he wouldn't show how strong, how big he is. In reality, he is very weak."
