Absolutely wrong to say AJ quit.

[champion4ever]

Yes... (and the guy was "expecting" that the ref should have asked for the mouth piece to be washed and put back...)

However, in this case the referee didn't have to because by that time Joshua was a defeated and broken man.

Typically, the referee would call a time out in order to rinse it off and put it back in the fighter's mouth; If it was knocked out inadvertently. However, this time Joshua spat it out deliberately and the referee knew this too.

The irony is that the ref was shouting instructions at AJ, even as he was holding the mouthpiece in his hand. By the time AJ walked back to his corner the referee had already made up his mind that he was going to stop the fight anyway because he knew that Joshua had had enough.

[MDPopescu]

However, in this case the referee didn't have to because by that time Joshua was a defeated and broken man.

Typically, the referee would call a time out in order to rinse it off and put it back in the fighter's mouth; If it was knocked out inadvertently. However, this time Joshua spat it out deliberately and the referee knew this too.

The irony is that the ref was shouting instructions at AJ, even as he was holding the mouthpiece in his hand. By the time AJ walked back to his corner the referee had already made up his mind that he was going to stop the fight anyway because he knew that Joshua had had enough.

... Yes... for sure!...

[HeadBodyBodyBody]

Every movement of his body showed that he didn't really want to be in there. Maybe an off-night, or whatever, but fact is, he could have continued and chose not to. He had enough presence of mind to instantly react to the referee calling it off, but not enough presence of mind to raise his hands to show that he was still game... I see it as a quit. Problem for Joshua is now, if you quit once, you will quit twice.