Anthony Joshua

Anthony Joshua is a British boxer. He is an Olympic gold medallist and a two-time former unified world heavyweight champion.

The Watford-born boxer won gold in the super heavyweight division at the 2011 World Championship.

Anthony represented hosts Great Britain at London 2012 Olympics and the 6ft 6ins boxer won gold in the super heavyweight division.

Joshua turned professional in 2013. He became the British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion when he beat Scottish boxer Gary Cornish in 2015.

Anthony beat undefeated Dillian Whyte in December 2015 before he became the IBF heavyweight champion thanks to a second-round stoppage.

The British boxer then beat Dominic Breazeale in a seventh-round knockout win at The O2 Arena before Joshua defended his IBF title with a fourth-round win against Eric Molina.

Joshua’s biggest win his career to date came when he became unified heavyweight world champion following an 11th-round stoppage win against boxing icon Wladimir Klitschko.

Early Career

Joshua began boxing at the age of 17. His local boxing club was Finchley ABC in Barnet.

His preparation for the London 2012 Olympics went well, as he claimed a silver medal at the 2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships.

Anthony Joshua (Photo: Under Armour / Media Handout)

London 2012

At the London 2012 Olympics, Joshua battled past Cuban boxer and world No4 Erislandy Savon 17-16 in the round of 16.

He produced a more assured performance against defending silver medalist Zhang Zhilei. He dropped the Chinese boxer in the middle round before he went on to win 15-11.

Anthony was then pitted against reigning Olympic champion Roberto Cammarelle in the final. The Italian boxer ran Joshua close with the scores level at 18-18 at the end of the bout. However, Joshua won the gold medal thanks to a count back.

British And Commonwealth Heavyweight Champion

Joshua got his hands on the British and Commonwealth title in 2015.

The Brit knocked out Scottish boxer Gary Cornish inside 97 seconds at The O2 to win the vacant British and Commonwealth heavyweight title.

Anthony Joshua (Photo: Under Armour / Media Handout)

IBF Heavyweight Champion

Anthony’s second professional bout was a test against undefeated Jamaican-born boxer Dillian Whyte in December 2015.

Joshua lost to Whyte in an amateur bout in 2009 but the British boxer didn’t show any scars from that loss.

The Olympic champion knocked out Whyte in the seventh round after a slow start. He reportedly pocketed £3m for the fight at The 02.

His next fight was against American boxer and IBF heavyweight champion Charles Martin in April 2016.

Joshua put Martin on the canvas twice in the second round to exert his dominance. With his opponent unable to make the count, the British boxer was crowned the IBF world heavyweight champion.

Martin lost his world title after a brief 85 days – the second shortest reign in boxing history.

Anthony Joshua (Photo: Under Armour / Media Handout)

Joshua vs Klitschko

With a title to defend, his promoter Eddie Hearn set about finding a worthy opponent for Joshua.

American boxer Dominic Breazeale was chosen to fight Joshua in his first defence of his world title. Joshua successfully retained his belt with a seventh-round technical knockout win at The O2 in June 2016.

The Olympic gold medalist was then pitted against another American, Eric Molina, at the Manchester Arena in November 2016. Joshua put Molina on the canvas in the third round but the Texan boxer was soon stopped by the referee.

Anthony then finally got to face Ukraine’s decorated boxer Wladimir Klitschko on 29 April 2017.

With Tyson Fury unable to defend his WBA world heavyweight title, Joshua and Klitschko were given the chance to unify the division.

Wladimir had famously beaten David Haye in their world heavyweight title bout in 2011.

The British boxer had no trouble helping to sell all the tickets for the event at Wembley. Reports suggested Joshua was set to pocket £15m from the bout.

He had Klitschko on the canvas in the fifth round with a flurry of punches. However, the Ukrainian showed his class after he got off the floor to dominate Joshua for the remainder of the fifth round.

With Joshua ailing, Wladimir looked to capitalise on his dominance in the sixth round and managed to knock down the British boxer.

With both boxers running out of steam, Anthony rallied in round 11 to send the veteran boxer to the canvas. Klitschko was in big trouble when he was knocked down for the second time in the penultimate round.

With Klitschko coming under relentless fires on the ropes, the referee stopped the fight.

CompuBox stats showed that Joshua landed 107 of his 355 punches thrown (30%), and Klitschko landed 94 of 256 (37%).

The fight set a British record with 1.2 million pay per views. In the United States, the world title fight was reported to have attracted 679,000 viewers.

Anthony Joshua (Photo: Under Armour / Media Handout)

Joshua vs Takam

Klitschko retired on 11 November 2017 to rule out the possibility of a thrilling rematch.

Former WBA world champion Tyson Fury not in shape to take on Joshua, Hearn secured a title defence against Kubrat Pulev. Injury forced the 36-year-old to withdraw from the fight.

World number three Carlos Takam was drafted in 12 days before the fight at the Millennium Stadium. Anthony retained his world title thanks to a tenth-round stoppage.

Anthony Joshua (Photo: Under Armour / Media Handout)

Professional Boxing Record

Anthony Joshua has emerged triumphant in 24 of his 26 professional bouts.

1) Emanuele Leo (TKO)
2) Paul Butlin (TKO)
3) Hrvoje Kisicek (TKO)
4) Dorian Darch (TKO)
5) Hector Avila (TKO)
6) Matt Legg (TKO)
7) Matt Skelton (TKO)
8) Konstantin Airich (TKO)
9 Denis Bakhtov (TKO)
10) Michael Sprott (TKO)
11) Jason Gavern (TKO)
12) Raphael Zumbano Love (TKO)
13) Kevin Johnson (TKO)
14) Gary Cornish (TKO)
15) Dillian Whyte (TKO)
16) Charles Martin (TKO)
17) Dominic Breazeale (TKO)
18) Eric Molina (TKO)
19) Wladimir Klitschko (TKO)
20) Carlos Takam (TKO)
21) Joseph Parker (UD)
22) Alexander Povetkin (TKO)
23) defeated by Andy Ruiz Jr (TKO)
24) Andy Ruiz Jr (UD)
25) Kubrat Pulev (KO)
26) defeated by Oleksandr Usyk (UD)

Personal Life And Net Worth

Joshua was born in Watford, Hertfordshire, to a Nigerian mother, Yeta, and father, Robert, who is of Nigerian and Irish ancestry. His cousin, Ben Ileyemi, is also a professional boxer.

Anthony Joshua (Photo: Under Armour / Media Handout)

Joshua has a son called Joseph Joshua – known as “JJ” – whose mother is dance teacher Nicole Osbourne.

Joshua likes to keep his personal life largely private and instead focus on his professional boxing career.

Speaking about his dating life back in September 2017, Joshua said in an interview with the Evening Standard: “If people can ride with me for the next 10 to 12 years I would really appreciate it, but if they can’t foresee the future I’d rather they jump off the boat because I can’t stop for no one right now.

“I was speaking to my coach, who worked with [British former world champion] Carl Froch who had a 12-year career. One day it does finish and now he has all the time in the world to think about business, family. Not everyone likes the decisions I make but I’ve got to make my own decisions. Decisions I make impact others.”

In 2020, Forbes estimated that Joshua earned a total of $47m in that year. Of that figure, $36m is said to have come from salary and winnings, while the remaining $11m reportedly came from endorsements and sponsorships.

His sponsors include Audemars Piguet, Beats Electronics, DAZN, Electronic Arts, Hugo Boss, Jaguar, Under Armour and William Hill.