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A Closer Look at WBA & IBF Heavyweight Champion Anthony Joshua

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By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

There are things, apparently that are in the stars. Some unseen hand directs the action and we, as Shakespeare once so eloquently said, are merely players upon it. The things that are put in our pathways allow us to make choices and exercise free will but often, the unforeseen interaction that makes us or even forces us into life choices, are as baffling as they are helpful.

You see… It was never meant to be as it is.

He was supposed to be cooking for Rio, 2016 and those Olympics.

He damn well peaked early.

Actually, he is still to achieve his peak but in his home city, London, in 2012, he took Gold.

His rise before and after then has been truly remarkable but for Anthony Joshua, 20-0, 20 KO’s, things were never going to be straightforward.

Having shared his upbringing between Nigeria and the UK, whilst being of Nigerian and Irish descent, it was never going to be a straight-lined narrative for a man who has united communities and is head of a divided division.

It is difficult to believe that he only began boxing a decade ago – when 18 – in 2007. Three years in, he was the senior British Amateur champion, having become the ABA champion in his 18th amateur fight.

Seen by some as a prisoner to his future, he was a real prisoner in 2009, when put on remand in Reading Prison and given an electronic tag when he was released.

Two years later he was back in court after having been stopped for speeding and found with 8oz of cannabis and then given a 12 month community payback order and 100 hours of community service; he had pled guilty to possession with intent to supply a class B drug.

He was suspended from the GB squad in the same years as he was named the amateur boxer of the year and he won silver at the World Amateur Championships; that win had meant he was now a member of the London 2012 Olympic squad, his conviction ruined that.

There began a campaign to forgive his misdemeanours and allow him to regain our pride by representing his country. Led by such media luminaries as Steve Bunce, this was a serious call to people in authority to recognise that one kid should not be condemned for a stupid mistake; it was successful, and Joshua returned for the 2012 Games.

The Olympics saw him win in the first round and the final controversially as many observers thought he had lost both fights but in between we saw glimpses of the fighter he was to professionally become.

Whilst he has never lost professionally, the names of Mihai Nistor (final of the European Amateur Boxing Championships – 2011), Magomedrasul Medzhidov, (final of the AIBA World Boxing Championships 2011) and Dillian Whyte (2009) can be writ large as they are the three fighters who beat him in his short 43 fight amateur career. Now you can appreciate the tie he has with Dillian Whyte, a defeat in the amateurs he avenged in a professional ring.

In 2013 he turned professional and became only the second British boxer to become a world champion as well as an Olympic Gold Medalist. He is only the second ever Olympic Super Heavyweight Champion to become a world champion whilst still a reigning Olympic champ – the first Brit.
Was there anything likely to knock him off the pedestal we were creating for him?
On the 28th October 2017, in Cardiff, Wales, in front of a world record crowd for an indoor boxing match he went on to show that he is human after all.

It was not his greatest performance and having sold the venue out, he had to endure boos that reigned in as his opponent, Carlos Takam, 35-4-1, 27 KO’s, was stopped. Many thought it was a premature stoppage, but we have had so many tragedies in the ring recently that the suggestion that any stoppage that saves a fighter for another day is premature is, in and of itself, a little fanciful.

A late replacement, the fact was that Takam won no rounds. The biggest compliment given about his performance was that he was brave; and he was. Joshua had said beforehand that the guy had a head like concrete and we were in for a long fight. He was right on both counts.

Takam though, did not come to Cardiff to win, he came to hang on and perhaps take the money. What happens next for him is likely to be more fascinating than what happened to him on the 28th October 2017.

The winner, Joshua has perhaps now got a pathway we have already discussed in detail as 3 potential fights have been suggested – Deontay Wilder, Joseph Parker and then Tyson Fury.
Such high profile attention has been with him from the beginning of his professional journey as he has fought on elite level undercards; a Scott Quigg world title defence; in amongst a Prizefighter show; the Ricky Burns/Terence Crawford title fight and when Carl Froch fought George Groves for the second time. He has been in a tour of major British cities that made him a British star. People got close to him because he went to them; but he fought in massive arenas and without the small hall and leisure centre hungry side shows that many of our boxers endure before they get to the brighter lights and greater rewards.

Belts though followed.

The WBC international title in fight 9, the Commonwealth title in fight 14, the British title in fight 15, before the IBF title taken from Charles Martin in fight number 16 and then an epic battle with Wladimir Klitschko in fight number 19 which brought the IBO and WBA titles.

In many ways Joshua is no different to many boxers making a living in this sport, nor is he any different to many young hopefuls but what makes this guy stand out is both his concussive power and his story. We are all salivating at the prospect of his next stage and hope it will be Joseph Parker for the WBO belt, then Deontay Wilder for that green and gold WBC belt before the massive UK fight we all want to see – the two British guys who both beat Wladimir Klitschko, Tyson Fury.

In other ways he is clearly very different. He comes from no privilege but once in the GB squad he got better looked after than the standard fighters you could call Dillian Whyte or Derrick Chisora or David Haye or Tyson Fury. His rise to the top has been on the back of being a poster boy for the sport and for being a role model for so many. He came from a bad place, conquered a good few demons and is now the UK’s genuine world class star. Perhaps the greatest accolade that could be given to him comes from his fans. They chant, and they chime with him. They wait minutes for his attention and get it for hours. His humility, like his power, are boundless. What happens next will define him but also define the next era of heavyweight boxing.

In Joshua we trust, there aint no Wilder story to be told over here…

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