Joshua could take a leaf out of Taylor's book - gracious in defeat

[Redback Rasta]

"The better man won on the night and I got no excuses. Felt amazing in the gym. He was better on the night tonight" - Josh Taylor.

Taylor went on to say he faded away from the game plan and offered a 'huge thank you' to his team and named them individually in his thankyou.

The ring announcer even prompted an excuse out of Taylor for the layoff between fights but he was having nothing of it.

Now I am not a Taylor fan after the way he handled his controversial win against Catterall and the fact that he didn't give Catterall a rematch and I fully expected a very different reaction after his loss to Lopez. But credit where it is due, how many fighters these days concede the better man won, don't offer excuses and don't blame anybody else for their loss?

Bit of a contrast to Joshua completely losing it, throwing belts out of the ring. Blaming his corner for his loss and then sacking his trainer.

[KiwiRider]

Why couldn't the arsewipe be like that when Catterall beat him, and why duck a rematch?

[Redback Rasta]

Why couldn't the arsewipe be like that when Catterall beat him, and why duck a rematch?

Factored that into what I said and I'll repeat what else I said : How many fighters these days concede the better man won, don't offer excuses and don't blame anybody else for their loss?

[KiwiRider]

Why couldn't the arsewipe be like that when Catterall beat him, and why duck a rematch?

Factored that into what I said and I'll repeat what else I said : How many fighters these days concede the better man won, don't offer excuses and don't blame anybody else for their loss?

Quite a few really, and women. All the ones with class at least.

[Redback Rasta]

Why couldn't the arsewipe be like that when Catterall beat him, and why duck a rematch?

Factored that into what I said and I'll repeat what else I said : How many fighters these days concede the better man won, don't offer excuses and don't blame anybody else for their loss?

Quite a few really, and women. All the ones with class at least.

A very low overall percentage, particularly in big fights.

[Twinkle Toes]

Joshua was gracious in defeat when Ruiz beat him and got slaughtered for it. Just a reminder so you can factor it in to any more posts or replies.

[Redback Rasta]

Joshua was gracious in defeat when Ruiz beat him and got slaughtered for it. Just a reminder so you can factor it in to any more posts or replies.

Joshua said at the time he had new excuses - full credit there - but over time that changed.

[The Gratest]

Hasn't Joshua already addressed his actions/reactions and apologised for what he did and said?

Surely a more fitting target for the thread title would be Deontay Wilder who continues to this day to throw out accusations and blame others?

[Redback Rasta]

Hasn't Joshua already addressed his actions/reactions and apologised for what he did and said?

Surely a more fitting target for the thread title would be Deontay Wilder who continues to this day to throw out accusations and blame others? :maybe:

Yes, Wilder came out with some classic excuses. Didn't throw belts out of the ring but like Joshua, sacked one if his cornerman.

[The Gratest]

Hasn't Joshua already addressed his actions/reactions and apologised for what he did and said?

Surely a more fitting target for the thread title would be Deontay Wilder who continues to this day to throw out accusations and blame others?

Yes, Wilder came out with some classic excuses. Didn't throw belts out of the ring but like Joshua, sacked one if his cornerman.

I think, in the immediate aftermath, when emotions and adrenaline are still flowing, after months of hard work, to realise it was not enough and probably never could be enough, there can be a bit of leeway with actions.
Joshua acted a complete dick, no doubt, and there probably was a lot of reflecting and PR input to get the apologetic statement out to try and paper it over.
Wilder? Jesus. That's just a complete denial that's still going on. There's no comparison really.

With the Catterall fight, I think that Taylor would always be in denial no matter what happened. It was his homecoming fight, the unified world champion taking on what he probably viewed as an opponent a level or so below him. His frustration probably grew throughout the fight as he realised Catterall was a lot better than he imagined and he just wasn't able to impose himself as thought he could. Throw in the old Scotland v England rivalry and it could (should) have ended in the ultimate humiliation. He would never admit defeat in such circumstances.
I think he did possibly learn from the backlash though. The Lopez fight was against a proven world class opponent, in New York (Lopez's backyard) and Taylor surely realised throughout the fight that it was slipping away and he'd lost. I did think 'fk, don't be a dick again!' when the mic was put in front of him but thankful he was humble and gave credit to Lopez.

It's possible that Joshua has learnt from the backlash he received following his reaction to the 2nd Usyk defeat. We've yet to see if that's so. I do find him really difficult to listen to nowadays, with his soundbites measured statements. He overthinks in and outside the ring nowadays.

[Black Sam Bellamy]

For 90% of the time, Taylors behaviour towards other boxers is pretty poor, you can't really hold him up as an example for others to follow IMO.

[cormack]

Taylor was so well beaten he had to accept it and take his defeat in the right way especially after the catteral debacle .

But what this has to do with Joshua is a mystery to me - pointless making these comparisons .

[forcefraser]

Taylor said in an interview that he would beat Lopez 6 times out of 7 and that he had an off night.

[margaret thatcher]

Hasn't Joshua already addressed his actions/reactions and apologised for what he did and said?

Surely a more fitting target for the thread title would be Deontay Wilder who continues to this day to throw out accusations and blame others?

Yes, Wilder came out with some classic excuses. Didn't throw belts out of the ring but like Joshua, sacked one if his cornerman.

not just the classic excuses, but a whole range of wacky arse ones:

-was poisoned
-the body suit was too heavy
-opponent had egg weight loaded gloves
-white privlege
-a conspiracy between the ref and his own trainer against him

and then the typical trash about fouling in the ring, etc, and absolutely trashing and slandering the guy who had been there for him his entire career

[jamesmcdonnell]

Hasn't Joshua already addressed his actions/reactions and apologised for what he did and said?

Surely a more fitting target for the thread title would be Deontay Wilder who continues to this day to throw out accusations and blame others?

Yes, Wilder came out with some classic excuses. Didn't throw belts out of the ring but like Joshua, sacked one if his cornerman.

not just the classic excuses, but a whole range of wacky arse ones:

-was poisoned
-the body suit was too heavy
-opponent had egg weight loaded gloves
-white privlege
-a conspiracy between the ref and his own trainer against him

and then the typical trash about fouling in the ring, etc, and absolutely trashing and slandering the guy who had been there for him his entire career

Wilder really is a humungous prick, I can't stand the man - graceless, talks utter gibberish constantly - I suspect he is as thick as pigshite, he certainly comes across that way.

That ridiculous costume he came into the ring wearing, what on earth was that all about - he looked like an extra from lord of the rings - what an utter helmet (no pun intended).

[jaouad]

Who cares what Joshua did a year ago. He apologised for it and we move on.

[Coco]

No one cares about AJs outburst in Saudi
About as much as Fury talking about the gays

[mickey1975]

Didn’t AJ have a load of secret excuses for the Ruiz beating but he wouldn’t tell anyone?

[The Gratest]

What were they?

[si7dog7]

Tbh AJ tried to give credit to both Ruiz and Usyk.
He should have done it in a post match interview in both cases.
Grabbing the mic in both cases was hugely embarrassing.

I can’t forget the MSG episode. That was ridiculous but, he gotta a pass because he was completely buzzed.

Then he doubled down on that meltdown v Usyk.

Seems Josh Taylor has learned from past mistakes. Lopez fight was much closer than Catterall (in my view of course). Although he had no meltdown. Just delusions of what had previously happened .

[jaouad]

Didn’t AJ have a load of secret excuses for the Ruiz beating but he wouldn’t tell anyone?

Every fighter has that

[Frostieballs]

How can I try and find post this week to take a dig at AJ?

[CaptainSpacerod]

"The better man won on the night and I got no excuses. Felt amazing in the gym. He was better on the night tonight" - Josh Taylor.

Taylor went on to say he faded away from the game plan and offered a 'huge thank you' to his team and named them individually in his thankyou.

The ring announcer even prompted an excuse out of Taylor for the layoff between fights but he was having nothing of it.

Now I am not a Taylor fan after the way he handled his controversial win against Catterall and the fact that he didn't give Catterall a rematch and I fully expected a very different reaction after his loss to Lopez. But credit where it is due, how many fighters these days concede the better man won, don't offer excuses and don't blame anybody else for their loss?

Bit of a contrast to Joshua completely losing it, throwing belts out of the ring. Blaming his corner for his loss and then sacking his trainer.

There’s a modicum of truth in the famous old line “show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser”

Maybe the new humble nice Josh demonstrates that the fire’s gone out, the nasty edge that made him special is no longer there

[Redback Rasta]

"The better man won on the night and I got no excuses. Felt amazing in the gym. He was better on the night tonight" - Josh Taylor.

Taylor went on to say he faded away from the game plan and offered a 'huge thank you' to his team and named them individually in his thankyou.

The ring announcer even prompted an excuse out of Taylor for the layoff between fights but he was having nothing of it.

Now I am not a Taylor fan after the way he handled his controversial win against Catterall and the fact that he didn't give Catterall a rematch and I fully expected a very different reaction after his loss to Lopez. But credit where it is due, how many fighters these days concede the better man won, don't offer excuses and don't blame anybody else for their loss?

Bit of a contrast to Joshua completely losing it, throwing belts out of the ring. Blaming his corner for his loss and then sacking his trainer.

There’s a modicum of truth in the famous old line “show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser”

Maybe the new humble nice Josh demonstrates that the fire’s gone out, the nasty edge that made him special is no longer there

Maybe? The human mind is complex.

Undefeated boxers feed off their perceived invincibility and the reality check caused by that first loss can be devastating to some and change the way they think about themselves and everything else.