According to boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, Anthony Joshua tossed Oleksandr Usyk's belts out of the ring because he had "lost faith" in the boxing system.
Prior to his strange rambling rant, AJ was plainly upset about falling victim to the Ukrainian for a second time. In the midst of the chaos, AJ threw two of Uysk's belts over the ropes.
He said on IFL TV: "Those governing bodies have charged him a lot of money and imposed a lot of mandates on him. He's clung onto those belts for a long time.
“And I think he’s lost a lot of faith in the system and I think he started to not be interested in fighting for belts anymore.
“I think he just wants to fight for enjoyment and to challenge himself.
“Of course he wanted to be undisputed, but a lot of that was frustration. He left the ring because he knew, ‘I’m gonna do something stupid’ and he forced himself, ‘I can’t [just leave].’
“So he went back in the ring and he gave a speech, which, he was a little bit out of it. But it was just pure emotion. That was just from the heart.”
Joshua, 32, had not regained control of himself as he began his baffling speech.
In a post-bout interview he had relaxed and admitted to letting himself down: “I acted out of pure passion and emotion and when not controlled it ain’t great.
“I love this sport so, so much and I’ll be better from this point on.
“I had two fights, one with Usyk and one with my emotions and both got the better of me.
“It was just from the heart. I was mad at myself. Not at anyone, just at myself. Like anyone, when you’re angry you might do stupid things, so I was mad.”