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Middleweight contender Chris Eubank Jr. expects Anthony Joshua to bounce back stronger than ever after last Saturday’s defeat at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Joshua was outboxed over twelve rounds by mandatory challenger Oleksandr Usyk, who walked away with the IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO heavyweight titles.
The British star is planning to exercise an immediate rematch clause – with the second encounter targeted for the first quarter of 2022.
Joshua was shocked back in June of 2019, when huge underdog Andy Ruiz stopped him in seven rounds. He was able to bounce back six months later to reclaim his belts, with a dominant twelve round unanimous decision in their rematch in Saudi Arabia.
In his second reign as champion, Joshua made a single defense last year, when he broke down and stopped Kubrat Pulev.
Eubank Jr. has suffered some tough losses of his own over the years – and he managed to rebuild himself more than once.
He expects Joshua to do the same.
“He is a career professional. He has been in the game long enough to know what to do, with or without his trainer. That’s not an excuse he will use. It just wasn’t his night. You can’t win them all,” Eubank Jr. told Sky Sports.
“The only fighter I can think of who won them all was Floyd Mayweather! You take your losses and come back stronger. That’s exactly what he is going to do.”