British-born Nigerian boxer, Anthony Oluwafemi Joshua emerged the IBF World Heavyweight Champion yesterday, April 9, 2016, after defeating Charles Martin with a knockout in the 2nd round.
In celebration of the boxing champion, who also holds the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles, we bring you all you need to know about him…
- Joshua was born in Watford to a Nigerian mother and a father of Nigerian and Irish descent.
- His cousin is fellow unbeaten professional boxer, Ben lleyemi. The pair made their professional debuts together in 2013.
- Joshua grew up for much of his early years in Nigeria and returned to the UK halfway through Year Seven to join Kings Langley Secondary School.
- Growing up on the Meriden Estate in Garston, Hertfordshire, Joshua was called ‘Femi’ by his friends and former teachers, due to his middle name ‘Oluwafemi’.
- He excelled at football and athletics and broke the Year Nine 100m record with a time of 11.6 second.
- A late starter in the sport, Joshua only began boxing in 2007, aged 18, when his cousin suggested he take it up.
- His club, Finchley ABC in Barnet, North London, is also home to professional heavyweight Dereck Chisora.
- Joshua won the 2009 and 2010 Haringey Box Cup.
- He also won the senior ABA Championships in 2010, in only his 18th bout, and later turned down £50,000 to turn professional. ‘Turning down that £50,000 was easy. I didn’t take up the sport for money, I want to win medals,’ he said
- He also went on to win the same tournament the following year.
- In 2010 his domestic success earned him a place on the GB Boxing team and later the same year he became British amateur champion at the GB Amateur Boxing Championships after defeating Amin Isa.
- In June 2011 at the 2011 European Amateur Boxing Championships he beat Eric Berechlin and Cathal McMonagle but was stopped by aggressive Romanian southpaw Mihai Nistor after receiving several standing counts.
- In October 2011 he was named Amateur Boxer of the Year by the Boxing Writers Club of Great Britain.
- During the 2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, Joshua marked his sudden arrival on the world scene when he beat Italian reigning World & Olympic champion Roberto Cammarelle, and went on to stop Erik Pfeifer of Germany in the semis before losing by a single point to local boxer, Magomedrasul Majidov winning a silver medal. En route to the final, Joshua secured his place at the 2012 Olympic Games in the 91 kg+ division as a relative new-comer to the elite level of the sport.
- Joshua went into the 2012 London Olympics as a novice on the international scene, despite being a world silver medalist.
- The home boxer battled through three tough rounds in his opening contest before being given the result 17:16. This decision caused some controversy with most observers believing Savon had clearly won the bout whilst a few others took the view that he had won on merit.
- In his next bout he fought 2008 Beijing Olympics silver medalist, Zhang Zhilei dropping his taller opponent in the middle round, Joshua won by 15:11 guaranteeing at least a bronze medal.
- In the semi-final Joshua met Kazakhstan boxer, Ivan Dychko, but despite Joshua’s height disadvantage he won by 13:11 victory gaining a place in the Olympic final.
- Joshua met 32-year-old reigning Olympic Champion and former twice World Champion, Roberto Cammarelle of Italy in the closing bout. After conceding the first round to Cammarelle, a man he had already beaten the previous year, Joshua grew into the fight and fought back to level the scores after the third round, Joshua was announced winner via count-back and the new Olympic champion. The final decision was criticized by some boxing experts, with it being defined as a ‘home decision’.
- He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to boxing
- On July 11, 2013 it was confirmed that Joshua had turned professional under the Matchroom Sport promotional banner. Joshua made his professional debut on 5 October 2013 at the O2 Arena in London in the Main-Event of a card featuring Scott Quigg’s successful WBA super-bantamweight title defence against Yoandris Salinas, beating Italian Emanuelue Leo by a TKO in the first round.
- Joshua’s second professional fight was against English heavyweight Paul Butlin at the Motorpoint Arena Sheffield on October 26, 2013. The bout was stopped in the 2nd round when the referee decided Butlin was taking too much punishment and declared Joshua the winner by TKO.
- Joshua’s third professional fight was on the Prizefighter Series card against Croatian, Hrvoje Kisciek, on November 14, 2013. Joshua got a TKO victory in the second round, achieving his third knockout victory in a row.
- In February 2014, Joshua scored a 2nd round TKO victory over Dorian Darch to take his record to 4-0. The following month, on the undercard of Ricky Burns against Terence Crawford, Joshua defeated Hector Alfredo Avila with a 1st round KO, in Glasgow, Scotland. In May that year Joshua knocked out Matt Legg in one round on the undercard of Carl Froch against George Groves in Wembley Stadium. In Joshua’s seventh professional fight, on 12 July 2014, in the Echo Arena, Liverpool, he defeated Englishman Matt Skelton via 2nd round stoppage.
- In Anthony Joshua’s eight professional fight, on September 13, 2014, against German Heavyweight Konstantin Airich, Joshua took his undefeated record to 8-0 with a 3rd round stoppage victory, in the Manchester Arena.
- Joshua was in the Main-Event of a Matchroom Sport card for the second time in his career, in his 9th professional appearance against Denis Bakhtov on October 11, 2014 at The O2 Arena in London, for the WBC International Heavyweight Title. Joshua won the fight by knockout in the second round taking his record to 9-0.
- In his 10th professional bout, Joshua defeated Michael Sprott within the 1st round to extend his record to 10 wins all by stoppage. He was supposed to face American boxer Kevin Johnson on January 31, 2015 at The O2 Arena in London, but the bout was cancelled after Joshua sustained a back injury. On April 4, 2015, Joshua beat Jason Gavern as he won by a third-round knockout in his return to the ring in Newcastle. On 9 May 2015, in his 12th professional bout, Joshua defeated Raphael Zumbano Love in a second round knockout in Birmingham.
- On May 30, 2015, Joshua defeated Kevin Johnson inflicting the first stoppage in Johnson’s career. After Johnson was saved by the bell in the first round the fight was stopped by the referee shortly after the beginning of the second round.
- On September 12, 2015, Joshua won the vacant Commonwealth Heavyweight title by stopping Gary Cornish in the first round at the O2 Arena. Cornish had been unbeaten in his previous 21 fights.
- Joshua fought Dillian Whyte for the vacant British Heavyweight title on December 12, 2015, whilst also defending his Commonwealth Heavyweight title for the first time. The two had previously fought within the amateur rankings in 2009 where Whyte had won. After surviving the first scare of his professional career in the second round, Joshua won the fight after initially shaking Whyte with a right hook to the temple and eventually finishing with a devastating uppercut for the knockout in the seventh round, making it the furthest distance either fighter has gone in a professional fight to date. It is said that Joshua earned £3million for this fight alone, as a result of signing a new 5-year deal with Matchroom which sees him take a share of the PPV revenue earned.
- Joshua defeated Charles Martin to win the IBF World Heavyweight title, his first professional world title, on April 9, 2016 with a knockout in the 2nd round.
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