Anthony Joshua apologised to his frustrated fans for failing to finish off Carlos Takam with a decisive knockout blow, The Sun reports.
The world heavyweight champ even admitted he might have joined in with the booing which greeted his tenth-round victory at Cardiff's Principality Stadium.
But he also defended the decision of referee Phil Edwards to stop the fight and save challenger Takam from potentially serious damage.
Joshua, 28, has now won all 20 of his professional fights inside the distance and knows exactly what the paying public wants to see.
The British-born Nigerian said, "The crowd think that Takam deserved to be flat on his back and I understand that they wanted to see him take some more punches.
"That's what boxing is about. People just want to see someone get battered and it's my job to knock him out.
"I don't care if I spark him out, if it goes 12 rounds or if the ref ends it.
"But the ref's job is to make sure that the guy lives to fight another day.
"Takam was showing all the signs that he wanted it to be stopped. Look at the guy's face. His eyes were nearly hanging off with those cuts so deep.
"I was delivering. I put him down, I hurt him and I slashed both his eyes.
"If you see my white shorts and boots, they're now bright pink with all his blood."
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