Eddie Hearn, promoter for IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, says his boxer was 'upset' by some of the accusations in the aftermath of a speech at a recent Black Lives Matter march in Watford, England.

Hearn explains that portions of Joshua's speech was edited out of context on social media and his words were misinterpreted.

Joshua read someone's speech out, but it was widely interpreted as being written by the superstar fighter - which in turn generated a lot of backlash on social media.

There was circulating criticism online, with claims that Joshua was advising the black community to only shop in black-owned businesses.

But that's far from the case, says Hearn. 

"He read someone's speech out, which he may have phrased differently, if he had read it himself," Hearn told Sky Sports News.

"People want to interpret the words of that in many different ways. I've seen some strange thoughts of what that was supposed to mean. It wasn't his words, but he did speak some of his own words as well, which was about uplifting his community, investing in his community, which is Watford, and he's got a seven-figure investment that he's putting into his own town soon to give people more opportunities.

"He spoke about gang culture being dead, he spoke about making sure that all gatherings and protests were peaceful ones. There were so many positives that came out of what he said. I've known Anthony Joshua for eight years. I know him inside out. It hurts when some of the accusations have been flying his way."

Hearn applauded his fighter for taking to the streets to uplift the local community, as protests broke out around the world following the tragic death of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis last month.

"There's all these clips that go around the internet. Go back and watch the clip. He clearly states, 'I'm going to read out this speech here', by the gentleman who wrote it, and maybe he would have phrased it differently. It wasn't a speech about white businesses and white shops, but people are very quick to criticise different things or put their take on it," Hearn said.

"Probably in hindsight, he shouldn't have read someone else's speech, but he was there to try and take part in a gathering to try and uplift the community, and let's look at the positives of why he was there, what he was representing and what he's trying to give back to the community.

"This is a good individual, with good morals, a good person, that wants to change the world for the better. I think one of the positives that have come out of his appearance is conversation, is talking points, is change and that is very important to him and it should be important to all of us."