Eddie Hearn has confirmed Anthony Joshua was taken to the hospital following his defeat to Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday night, amid concerns that the British fighter had suffered a broken eye socket.
Joshua suffered only the second loss of his career at the hands of the Ukrainian at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and was sporting a visible swollen eye by the tenth round of the contest.
Usyk took full advantage, finishing the fight with a stunning flurry in the final rounds to secure a unanimous 117-112, 116-112, 115-113 win.
After losing his grip on the WBA, WBO and IBF belts, Joshua went straight to his dressing room to receive medical attention, and later admitted that he couldn’t see out of his injured eye towards the end of the bout.
Asked after the fight about what went wrong, the defeated Joshua said: “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.”
Promoter Hearn later revealed concerns that the 31-year-old may have damaged his eye socket, adding that Joshua has already started to turn his attention to a rematch.
“[AJ] never really got going,” he told BBC Radio Five Live. “He will go to hospital now, I don’t know if he has broken his eye socket it doesn’t look great.
“AJ said he is not going on holiday that he is going straight back to the gym and that is not a good idea.
“You could make any manner of excuse but he got beaten by the better man. Sometimes you have to take it on the chin, when you lose you shake someone’s hand and say congratulations and say you will come back stronger.”
In a separate interview with Sky Sports, Hearn added: “It was a tough fight, a gruelling fight. I’ve spoken to him, he’s not quite talking the way you’d expect him to talk at the moment.
“He’s devastated, already talking about training again. They want to look at the eye socket, he says it’s fine. But you know, a devastating defeat.
“Congratulations to Oleksandr Usyk, what a fighter. Put in a great performance tonight and the better man won.
It’s not clear what hospital Joshua visited after the fight, with further details over his injuries likely to emerge over the coming days.
Usyk himself was also in need of attention after a cut opened up above his eye during the bout, and both fighters will be keen to bounce back as soon as possible, with a potential rematch early in 2022 already mooted.
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