‘He couldn’t have tried any harder’ – David Haye gives Anthony Joshua a 10/10 for effort in Oleksandr Usyk rematch and defends his post-fight reaction

Anthony Joshua has come under a lot of criticism since his second loss to Oleksandr Usyk, but David Haye is in AJ's corner.

Usyk put in yet another masterful boxing performance, as he beat Joshua by split decision and then was overcome with emotion in the aftermath.

5

5

Former heavyweight champion Haye, like Usyk, has experienced the leap from being a world cruiserweight champion to taking on the giants of the heavyweight division, so will know first hand how impressive the Ukrainians achievement was earlier this month.

With that being said, in this case Haye focused his praise more on the efforts of Joshua, : "He couldn't have tried any harder, it was a 10/10 for effort.

"He couldn't have done anymore than what he trained to do, he couldn't do anymore.

"What more can you do than give 100 per cent? He tried his best."

Immediately after the fight, 'AJ' could be seen throwing two of Usyk's belts out of the ring, as well as confronting a bystander backstage, taking the in-ring microphone and going on a bizarre rant, before breaking down in tears in the post-fight press conference.

Haye, however, was quick to jump to the defence of Joshua's post fight antics, saying that it was inevitable and he should have been given more time after the fight before being allowed to speak.

Most read in Boxing

Conor Benn brushes off Martin Brundle's major blunder in awkward exchange at Miami GP

Naoya Inoue makes honest Manny Pacquiao admission ahead of blockbuster Las Vegas return

Alalshikh makes Dana White decision as Canelo and Crawford super fight confirmed

Amir Khan stuns fans with bizarre reaction to Canelo Alvarez’s win over William Scull

5

5

5

He added: "When someone's life is on the line and they're in the ring, getting their head punched for 36 minutes, they have so many emotions going into the biggest event ever where everyone has gone against him and he hasn't done what he dreamt of doing...

"It's hard to judge someone in their worst moment, when they've just come through an absolute ordeal.

"So, what he said afterwards, I don't really care.

"I guarantee if he'd have been given an hour to calm down, what he said would have been very different.

"You can't just get someone all irate and then stick a camera and a microphone in their face and expect to get some poetry, it rarely happens that way."