An emotional Anthony Joshua grabbed a microphone to vent his frustration and praise Oleksandr Usyk after the Ukrainian retained his world heavyweight titles via split decision. 

Joshua, 32, was clearly angry following the 12-round war in Jeddah and initially left the ring before returning to make his point in front of the stunned crowd — but his impromptu outburst stole Usyk’s moment.

After raising two of the champion's belts and dropping them to the canvas, the Brit said: "Usyk is one hell of a fighter. 

"Look, if you knew my story, you would understand the passion. 

"I wasn’t an amateur boxer from five years old that was an elite prospect from a youth. I was going to jail. 

"I got bail and I started training my ass off. Because if I got sentenced, I wouldn’t be able to fight. I bust my case.

"I’m stealing this Usyk, sorry, but it’s because of the passion we put into this.

"I could have done better [tonight], but it showed the hard work he must have put in to beat me. Please give him a round of applause as our heavyweight champion of the world. 

"I’m not a 12-round fighter. Look at me! I'm a new breed of heavyweight. Mike Tyson, Sonny Liston... they say 'he doesn’t throw combinations like Rocky Marciano'. 

"That's because I am 18 stone, I am heavy. It's hard work. 

"This guy here is a phenomenal talent. We are going to cheer for him."

Addressing Usyk directly, Joshua added: "I was studying Ukraine and all the champions that have come from your amazing country. I’ve never been there. 

"I don’t know what's happening there but I know it's not nice. For Usyk to be champion, under those circumstances, please raise your hands."

With Joshua awarded the fight 115-113 on one of the scorecards, Usyk got the nod from the other two judges who scored it 115-113 and 116-112 in his favour. 

The unified champ, who added the vacant Ring Magazine title to his IBF, WBO and WBA Super gold, said: "I want to thank everyone who prayed for me. I want to thank God for the help he gave me because he did give me a lot today. 

"I devote this victory to my family, my country, my team, to all the military defending this country. Thank you so much. 

"This is already history. Many generations are going to watch this fight, especially the round when someone tried to beat me hard but I stood and came back."

Usyk also had a message for Tyson Fury, who has until Friday to decide whether or not he wishes to vacate the WBC title. 

He added: "I’m sure that Fury is not retired yet. I’m sure, I’m convinced he wants to fight me. 

"I want to fight him and if I’m not fighting Fury, I’m not fighting at all.

"Only God knows whether I will fight him or not, but all these gentlemen here around me, my team, they are going to help me."

As the dust settled, former world super-middleweight champ Carl Froch defended Joshua following his uncharacteristic outburst, while heavyweight prospect Frazer Clarke pointed the finger at his friend's team. 

The Cobra said: "He got the mic, he stole Usyk’s moment but let’s not go too mad.

"He didn’t say anything that would have offended anybody too much. He was just trying to speak off the cuff. 

"He put his heart on his sleeve and hopefully didn’t offend anybody but he did steal Usyk’s moment and it was a bit strange. 

"I think he was so emotionally built up to win that fight. I didn’t like the way the belts got thrown. But it was a great boxing match, I thought it was a great performance."

Clarke said: "As a gym friend and a friend in general, for anyone offended by what happened, I think I can apologise on his behalf for the outburst. 

"His team might be mad at me for saying this, but I feel he was hung out to dry there. Somebody should have saved him from himself. 

"It's words, but in the true reflection of boxing, that was Usyk's time to celebrate victory and he didn't get to do it straight away. I don't think that was right. 

"Anthony is a great person and has done a lot for a lot of people, a lot for me, but I feel like he had a bit of a bad one there and it was out of character."

Cruiserweight world champ Lawrence Okolie added: "It was Usyk’s time. The bottom line is we can only imagine the kind of pressure that he’s under, exploding like that. 

"It’s a reflection of boxing. When you go in there you have to fight alone and that is exactly how he was left by his team. 

"He’s just had a 12-round war. You could see he was off-key and no one decided to step in and do the right thing."