Anthony Joshua demonstrated why they believe it takes a strong man to cry by covering his eyes and sobbing in the face of disappointment after fighting like a warrior king but failing to win back his throne.
The dawn was on the verge of breaking, but so was his heart.
Joshua had never observed him in such a manner. not even during earlier defeats. On a tie vote, this one turned out to be the most hopeless. because he had put a lot of effort into getting ready and had then come so near.
It was out of character for him to throw the belts into the throng, which Oleksandr Usyk had taken in September and retained despite considerable hardship.
As he described how this loss affected him, there were dry throats in the crowd of occasionally cynical critics.
Another surprise came from Usyk's admission that Joshua had been on the verge of engaging in bare-knuckle fighting with some of his crew.
The Ukrainian laughed about it and said, "I told him not to. Some of the world's toughest street fighters are among my crew.
AJ atoned for his offence by praising Usyk, leading the crowded arena in three hip-hip cheers for his foe.
“It was the passion running over, after all, I’d put into weeks of training,,” said Joshua.
So can he bring himself to go through it all again? Is the potential for disappointment included?
“I’ll be back in the ring come November or December,” he said — dispelling speculation that at 33 in October and after 10 years of combat he would retire.
“I’ll be a fighter for life,” he said. “Understand that fighters are not normal people. We live for this.”
So who could possibly be next after Usyk, the best boxer on the planet?
“Come one, come all,” Joshua proclaimed. “One fight this year, three more in 2023. Then I truly believe I will become a three-time world heavyweight champion.”
That ambition was the subplot to his burning desire to end Usyk’s unbeaten reign. But there would be no parting of the Red Sea through which Joshua might charge to the immortality which the gods of the ring confer upon the previous few all-time multiple winners of boxing’s holy grail.