Eddie Hearn, who promotes British superstar Anthony Joshua, felt his boxer was making things very close before Oleksandr Usyk took full control in the final rounds of their bout.

Last Saturday night at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Usyk outboxed Joshua over twelve rounds to capture the WBO, IBF, IBO, WBA heavyweight titles.

Joshua has exercised an immediate rematch clause.

Their second fight is being targeted for the first quarter of 2022.

Based on the outcome of the first encounter, Joshua will potentially enter the ring as an underdog.

Most observers believe the bigger man made a big mistake by attempting to outbox a fighter who many regarded as a top-level craftsman with far more experience.

"He will want to go back in that rematch, and he will be the underdog in that fight but he has just been beaten by a pound-for-pound great. Joshua lives and breathes boxing, he is already talking about training again and he will be in the gym and ready to get back in again," Hearn said.

"You can criticize Anthony Joshua, but he has just fought a great and he is fighting the very best, and tonight he came off second best. There is a new unified heavyweight world champion, but there is no point sulking about it and he must go back to the drawing board and rebuild.

"We will have enough time, the fighter in AJ says he will win the rematch but I had it close before Usyk ran away with it at the end. But he has to make changes and impose his style to win the rematch, or he will lose again."