As well as the ol’ Champions League final last night, June 1, another sporting event with a beloved British sportsman was taking place on the other side of the pond.
Anthony Joshua was battling it out with Andy Ruiz Jr at New York’s Madison Square Garden, but succumbed to a shock defeat in the seventh round. Going into the fight, Joshua was the 1-25 favourite with bookmakers, with 22 wins under his belt.
However, Ruiz floored Joshua four times before the end was called in the seventh round, ripping Joshua’s IBF, WBO and WBA world heavyweight titles from him.
Joshua, 29, told BBC Sport:
I got beaten by a good fighter. It will be interesting to see how far he goes, but this is all part of the journey. He’s a champion for now, I shall return.
While surprising sporting upsets aren’t actually that surprising, and often happen, many fans think they’ve found the real reason behind Joshua’s shock loss.
You see, in March this year Joshua took to Instagram to post a picture of himself with Canadian musician Drake, along with the caption ‘Bout to break the curse #June1st’.
However, it seems the confident post did indeed jinx the boxer, and it seems he has fallen victim to ‘the Drake curse’ just like PSG, Sergio Aguero, Conor McGregor, Serena Williams and the Miami Heat, among others, before him.
The Drake curse basically involves the musician hanging out with sports stars moments before they lose big games or tournaments.
It started in 2013 when the Toronto Raptors made Drake their global ambassador, just before they became known for choking in important games. Since then, Drake seems to have popped up in various dressings of various sports teams right before they too lose a game. Such as Sergio Aguero missing a penalty in the Champions League, or Conor McGregor losing to Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Last month, Joshua even joked about the Drake curse, telling ESPN he knew he shouldn’t have the musician backstage, having taken a picture with Drake just before another boxer, Jarrell Miller, failed a drug test and was banned from his next fight.
Is anyone checking on who Drake is betting on for these matches? Just saying.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.