For the second time in little more than two years, Anthony Joshua had his world titles ripped from his grasp, on Saturday at Tottenham.

Britain’s WBA, IBF, and WBO world heavyweight champion lost his titles to the cunning Ukrainian southpaw Oleksandr Usyk in a unanimous and indisputable decision.

Following Joshua’s loss, the chance of ever fighting Tyson Fury for the undisputed title now looks extremely remote.

For their fight, Usyk simply refused to run out of gas, as Joshua failed to make his superior strength tell.

Joshua ended the fight pinned to the ropes by a flurry of punches – and that late flourish came after Usyk had already built up an unassailable lead on the judges’ scorecards.

After his stunning knock-out defeat by Andy Ruiz Jr in New York in 2019, this defeat felt nowhere near as freakish. Usyk was the superior craftsman and thoroughly deserved his victory.

There will be a re-match next year and Joshua must find a way of figuring the elusive southpaw next time.

It had been three long years since Joshua had packed out a British stadium – when he floored Alexander Povetkin at Wembley.

After years of speculation, a fight with Fury had come close to fruition in Saudi Arabia this summer only for American lawyers to demand that Fury completed his trilogy against Wilder first.