Anthony Joshua lost to Oleksandr Usyk on points in Saudi Arabia in August

Joshua has admitted he needs to ‘rest mentally’ after that devastating loss

The former two-time world champion has admitted that his post-fight behaviour showed how much the rematch meant to him, and led to friends telling him not to rush his return to the squared circle.

‘You saw after my last fight, it tore me apart,’ Joshua said in an interview with DAZN.

‘I had so much riding on it, for me, the British fans, the undisputed fight, it just really tore me apart. So from a mental capacity, my close ones are telling me: “you should rest mentally”.

‘Physically, I’m down to fight. I’m a warrior, I like this game, I like competing. But on a mental aspect, I think people have really seen it means a lot.’

Just weeks after his loss to Usyk, Joshua was called out by Tyson Fury for a potentially huge domestic heavyweight clash.

Negotiations between the two teams appeared to start well for a December 3 bout, with Joshua initially accepting Fury’s terms.

Joshua had looked set to fight Tyson Fury in December but will now not return until 2023

However, talks broke down after that, with Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn claiming Fury’s team failed to respond when they returned the first draft of the contract, while the Gypsy King’s chief negotiator George Warren stated that Joshua’s camp went quiet when it came to discussing the proposed fight.

Fury was also very active on social media during this period, accusing Joshua of missing multiple deadlines to sign for the fight.

Joshua has refused to blame Fury for his antics on social media, but has conceded that using that method for negotiating fights can be ‘time-consuming’. He still believes the fight will happen eventually, though.

Looking ahead to his next fight, Joshua said: ‘I was supposed to be in the ring on December 3. When you’re saying: “when are we going to see you back in the ring?” that was the date but obviously it’s not happening.

‘But I’ve got a good team and I’ve got to just leave certain things to them because all that other stuff, back and forth and social media, it’s quite time-consuming. But you’ve got to play the game as well.

Joshua is not interested in taking an easy fight next and is open to fighting Dillian Whyte

‘And my dance partner, the last geezer I was supposed to fight (Fury), he’s a good dance partner, he handles the social media side and I think we do good business behind the scenes to be fair.

‘It will happen, we’re in the same era. Just as two competitors, two fighters. He’s definitely someone that’s a fighting man.’

Fury has now agreed to fight Derek Chisora for a third time, while Joshua’s next opponent is still unknown.

The 33-year-old looks set to avoid the temptation of taking a ‘tune-up’ fight, though, declaring that he would be willing to fight Dillian Whyte, Otto Wallin or Filip Hrgovic next.