They say it takes a strong man to cry and Anthony Joshua proved them right as he covered his eyes and wept with the emotion of having fought like a warrior king yet failed to regain his crown.

Morning was close to breaking but so was his heart.

We had not seen him like this before. Not even in previous defeats. This one, on a split decision, proved to be the most despairing. Because he had worked so hard to prepare and then come so close.

It was a poignant moment and there were dry throats in an audience of sometimes cynical critics as he explained his reaction to this loss.

Anthony Joshua was full of emotion following his heavyweight loss to Oleksandr Usyk

A teary-eyed Joshua momentarily broke down during his post-fight press conference

Tossing into the crowd the belts which Oleksandr Usyk had spirited away from him in September and now kept through some adversity here was out of character.

Usyk’s revelation that Joshua had been on the brink of lunging into bare-knuckle slugging with some of his team was another surprise.

The Ukrainian made light of it, saying: ‘I advised him against it. My men are some of the toughest street fighters in the world.’

AJ made amends by extolling Usyk, leading the packed crowd in the arena in three hip hip hoorays for his nemesis. ‘It was the passion running over after all I’d put into weeks of training,’ said Joshua.

So can he bring himself to go through it all again? The potential for disappointment included?

Tempers were raised as Joshua initially threw Usyk’s belts out the ring following the bout

Usyk (pictured) reclaimed his heavyweight titles to set up a unification fight with Tyson Fury

‘I’ll be back in the ring come November or December,’ he said — dispelling speculation that at 33 in October and after 10 years of combat he would retire.

‘I’ll be a fighter for life,’ he said. ‘Understand that fighters are not normal people. We live for this.’

So who could possibly be next after Usyk, the best boxer on the planet?

‘Come one, come all,’ Joshua proclaimed. ‘One fight this year, three more in 2023. Then I truly believe I will become a three-time world heavyweight champion.’

That ambition was the subplot to his burning desire to end Usyk’s unbeaten reign. But there would be no parting of the Red Sea through which Joshua might charge to the immortality which the gods of the ring confer upon the previous few all-time multiple winners of boxing’s holy grail.

Joshua and Usyk went the distance with the Ukrainian being awarded a split-decision win

Joshua bowed down to Usyk in the aftermath of his defeat in Saudi Arabia on Saturday

No miracle to be conjured from the shifting sands of fortune in this land of mystery, of which this long night will be one of the most unforgettable.

Joshua fought in vain to the end, but victory remained a tantalising mirage in the desert.

Yet there was redemption of a spiritual kind. He put in a far, far better fight than he did in the one in which he surrendered to Oleksandr The Great 11 soul-searching months ago.

Upon his leave of absence from the front line of war, Usyk found the Englishman he had mesmerised into oblivion in the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was back with a will to fight for his lost crown in this, the most royal and ancient city in Arabia.

The 32-year-old Joshua grabbed the in-ring microphone post-fight to start his X-rated rant

The two had momentarily clashed following the bell before embracing in the ring later on

The first three rounds were a reversal of September’s fortunes, with Joshua winning them all.

Usyk would admit that he had felt heavy with the burden ‘of fighting for an imperative victory for my country at this difficult time for Ukraine’.

He shook off the yoke the longer it went, but the crux of this captivating contest came in the ninth and 10th rounds.

Joshua’s new Mexican trainer Robert Garcia had realigned him to direct the fistic direction of traffic towards Usyk’s allegedly fragile torso. Sometimes those bad intentions strayed below the belt line, incurring warnings from the referee.

But it was Joshua’s trademark right crosses to the head which had the former undisputed cruiserweight champion reeling in the ninth. Usyk confessed: ‘I was worried in the ninth. He began using his height and strength.

‘But in a fight like this it’s not size that matters. It’s spirit.’

He pumped up that spirit to almost inhumane levels in the 10th, with his astonishing response to adversity.

That was where the fight was lost and won. Where Joshua recovered the respect born of his winning UK gold at the London Olympics in 2012 but which had waned partly because of his infrequent activity.

That will not happen again. Not with his new, busier schedule.

Much of the internet trolling has given way to ‘hero-gramming’. The British like little better than heroic losers.

The man who gave British boxing the kiss of life is back in favour.

One hot albeit foiled night on the dunes and lo and behold, the Joshua legacy is secured.

Joshua failed to get the better of his Ukrainian opponent in their rematch