Anthony Joshua Profile

Anthony Joshua is a two-time unified heavyweight champion of the world who currently holds WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO world titles following his emphatic points win over Andy Ruiz Jr in December 2019.

"AJ" reigned initially as heavyweight champion between 2016 to June 2019 before he was memorably stopped by Ruiz Jr in New York in one of the biggest boxing shocks of the decade. 

However, the Watford man bounced back from the Madison Square Garden defeat, the first of his professional career, to put on a boxing clinic against the same opponent in Saudi Arabia at the end of 2019.

He has made one defense since, defeating Kubrat Pulev inside nine rounds in December 2020, his only fight of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

His standout victory is a TKO win over the legendary Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley Stadium in front of a post-war record attendance of 90,000. Joshua climbed off the canvas in round five to deliver a stunning finish in round 11 to add the WBA crown to his IBF strap.

The hellacious battle is regarded as the most exciting heavyweight fight of the 21st Century. Joshua also represented Great Britain at the 2012 Olympic Games in London and won gold in the super heavyweight category.

The fight the world wants to see is an all-British unification clash between Joshua and Tyson Fury. The pair own the heavyweight division with Fury currently holding the WBC, Ring Magazine and lineal titles which means the UK holds every major world title possible in the division. It is the first time this has happened in the history of the sport.

One man who could block the undisputed clash is Oleksandr Usyk. The former unified champion at 200-pounds is bidding to become just the third fighter to win world titles at cruiserweight and heavyweight after Evander Holyfield and David Haye.

After winning the 2018 World Boxing Super Series, the Ukrainian decided to move up to heavyweight and was instantly installed as mandatory challenger by the WBO. 

Joshua may have to fight him or vacate the title for the Fury fight to happen.

History was against Joshua winning back his belts with only three deposed former world heavyweight champions ever winning back their belts in an immediate rematch.

Ruiz Jr, who entered the ring in poor physical condition at 283-pounds, had no answers to Joshua's mobility and ring intelligence. The bout was not a classic by any means but in a defining night for the Englishman, the judges awarded him the contest by scores of 118-110, 118-110 and 119-109.

However, Joshua joined Floyd Patterson, Muhammad Ali and Lennox Lewis on that exclusive list after executing the perfect game plan in Diriyah. Those who presumed Joshua would engage in another firefight with his Mexican-American foe left stunned as Joshua boxed from the outside and used lateral movement to peck and poke his way to a decisive win on the cards.

The Klitschko win is arguably Joshua's best and most high profile, but he has enjoyed other thrilling wins in compiling a 24-1 (21) record after turning over in October 2013. "AJ" came through his first real test in 2015 as he knocked out arch-rival Dillian Whyte in the seventh round to win the famous Lonsdale title.

Going into the domestic grudge match, Joshua had won all 14 of his previous bouts inside the first three rounds.

Whyte, who had beaten Joshua on the amateur circuit, had different ideas and gave Joshua his first tough fight before he was starched in the seventh, dangling on the ropes at the mercy of Howard Foster.

The Doncaster referee halted proceedings at a raucous O2 Arena in London.

His next fight saw him destroy Charles Martin inside two rounds to become IBF heavyweight champion. Solid wins over Dominic Breazeale, Eric Molina, Klitschko and Carlos Takam followed, before Joshua took care of business against New Zealand's first heavyweight champion Joseph Parker and Alexander Povetkin in 2018.

In June 2019 Joshua suffered what is considered one of the biggest upsets in the history of the fight game when he was stopped on his feet against huge betting underdog Ruiz Jr at Madison Square Garden.

Joshua's weight has fluctuated in each fight but during his most recent bout against Ruiz in 2019, Joshua - under the guidance of Rob McCracken - hit the scales at his lightest weight since 2014 by coming in at 237-pounds (10 lighter than his first bout with Ruiz).

The decision proved to be a masterstroke with Joshua reclaiming three of the four major world titles. The Briton was also at his lightest weight for a world title fight.

McCracken hinted afterwards he would like his man to stay around this weight for his next title defence, with Joshua showing another dimension to his game with his jab and movement around the ring.

It proved to be right with Joshua weighing four pounds lighter prior to knocking Pulev out.

Matchroom supremo Eddie Hearn wore the most dazzling smile in Diriyah after Joshua's latest win, with victory putting them back at the top of the heavyweight food chain once again.

Hearn rolled the dice by agreeing for his man to go straight back in with Ruiz Jr, and a defeat would have been a commercial catastrophe. 

The risk paid off handsomely with Joshua delivering the biggest numbers of the year for streaming service DAZN, who had the Ruiz-Joshua 2 rights in nine territories, including America and Canada.

Following his Olympic success in 2012, Hearn beat the likes of Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions in securing the services of Joshua and it is safe to say it has been a huge success for both parties.

After signing a new three-year deal to exclusively fight under the Matchroom Boxing banner, Joshua is contracted to fight on Sky Sports in the UK and DAZN across the rest of Europe and North America until 2021.

He is by far the biggest pay-per-view attraction on British shores and holds the Box Office record with an estimated 1.6 million buys to tune in to watch his rematch with Ruiz. On DAZN, Ruiz-Joshua 2 was the most steamed sporting event of the year with an audience of 1.8 million across nine territories. 

Four of his fights (Klitschko, Povetkin, Parker and Ruiz) are in the top 10 for all time buys in the UK. Whether he remains with Sky Sports after 2021 remains to be seen with it depending on Hearn, whose deal with Sky expires next year too.

The Matchroom mogul has been linked with a full-time switch to DAZN, who plan to make their move in the UK market.

In 2018 Joshua left American network Showtime to join DAZN alongside Hearn as a part of an eight-year, $1billion deal between Matchroom Sports and the OTT streaming service company.

According to Forbes, Joshua profited between $60-85million for his win over Ruiz in their rematch.

Outside of the ring, the Londoner has lucrative sponsorship deals with Hugo Boss, Under Armour, Beats and Lucozade Sport.

In 2020, Joshua featured in Forbes' Highest Paid Athletes list of the last 12 months with a fortune of $47million. His net worth stands at around $100million.

Joshua's Nigerian heritage comes from his mother Yeta Odusanya and father Robert Joshua, who lived in the West African country before moving to the English capital to provide better living conditions for their family. Joshua has three siblings in his two sisters Janet and Loretta and brother Jacob.

The heavyweight champion also has a son, JJ (Joseph Bayley Temiloluwa Prince Joshua) but is no longer in a relationship with the mother, Nicole Osbourne. It is believed she is a yoga instructor and a pole dancing teacher.

A late starter to the sport, Joshua first laced up a pair of gloves in 2007. He was 18 when he joined Finchley ABC in Barnet, the same boxing club as fellow heavyweight and friend Derek Chisora.

His rise was meteoric and in 2011 he exceeded expectations at the World Amateur Boxing Championships in Baku by winning a silver medal.

He beat the then-reigning World and Olympic super-heavyweight champion Roberto Cammarelle in the Azerbaijan tournament but lost in the final by a solitary point to home hope Magomedrasul Majidov.

After avoiding a jail sentence for a drugs conviction, Team GB reinstated Joshua into the set-up and their perseverance and trust in him was paid back by the Briton, who reached the pinnacle of the amateur code by winning gold at the 2012 Games.

Joshua overcame Italian Cammarelle via countback in a thrilling finale in London. In doing so, he became the first Briton since Audley Harrison to win gold at super heavyweight.