Anthony Joshua said he will continue fighting after suffering a devastating knockout defeat against IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois.
Joshua was on the back foot from the outset and never recovered as Dubois sealed victory in five rounds.
Despite seeing his four-fight win streak halted unceremoniously, Joshua rejected the suggestion that he could hang up his gloves.
“Of course I still want to continue fighting,” Joshua said at the post-fight news conference.
“We took a shot at success and came up short. Are we going to run away now or live to fight another day? I’m a warrior.”
Joshua was attempting to join legends Muhammad Ali, Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield and Vitali Klitschko in becoming a three-time world heavyweight champion.
Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn, who promotes Joshua, told the 34-year-old not to attend the news conference, but his fighter was adamant that he wanted to deliver a statement to the media.
Joshua, sporting bruises under both eyes and on his neck, did not take questions but gave a statement.
“Always walk with your head up high,” he added.
“We rolled the dice. That’s 13 world title fights, not all of them have been successful but they’ve all been fun and entertaining.
“We want to create history for British boxing and I think we are doing that.”
Almost 500,000 fans have watched Joshua headline in six British stadium fights. His contribution to the growth of British boxing is incontestable.
It was Joshua’s first world title fight since losing his rematch against Oleksandr Usyk for the WBA (Super), IBF and WBO belts in August 2022.
