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Anthony Joshua’s Top Three Performances

Anthony Joshua’s career had been on a steep upward trajectory before his shock defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr. in June. The Watford man had established a remarkable 22-fight winning run before the bout at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The rematch has been highly anticipated, with the fight scheduled for December 7th in Saudi Arabia. Joshua will be looking for revenge against the Mexican and a win would go a long way to restoring his position among the best heavyweight boxers in the world. A defeat would be detrimental to his hopes of creating a successful legacy in the sport.

Anthony Joshua betting odds place AJ as the favorite, and with the stakes so high, he will need to draw strength and confidence from previous triumphs to win. Here, we look back at Joshua’s top three career performances.
Joshua vs Dillian Whyte, December 2015

This was the fight that proved Joshua’s champion credentials. Undefeated Dillian Whyte approached the fight with a 16-0 record, with 13 of those victories by way of knock-out. He had beaten Joshua in 2009 when the two were competing on the amateur scene, and so the fight for the vacant British heavyweight title was viewed as something of a grudge match, with Joshua out for revenge.

Throughout the fight, Joshua landed several heavy blows but Whyte stood firm and landed a few punches of his own. AJ’s power shone through in the end and he secured a KO victory in the seventh round with a fizzing uppercut that Whyte could not recover from. Former super-middleweight champion Richie Woodhall described it as “a punch that would have knocked King Kong out.”

That defeat remains the only loss Whyte has suffered in his professional career, proof of how well Joshua performed on the night.

Joshua Vs Wladimir Klitschko, April 2017

In one of the most anticipated boxing matches in recent history, Joshua took on boxing legend Wladimir Klitschko in front of a sell-out crowd at Wembley Stadium. The Ukrainian’s previous fight had seen him lose his heavyweight titles to Tyson Fury, and as a result, he was out to restore his reputation and stop Joshua in his tracks.

In a thrilling bout, a series of blows from Joshua in the 11th round proved too much for Klitschko and the referee stopped the fight, sealing a famous victory for AJ. Joshua produced a stunning display against a boxer who had previously reigned as world heavyweight champion for many years, obliterating any doubts about the Englishman’s potential.

After the fight, Joshua said: “I don’t come to box, I come to hurt people. With all due respect, I came to hurt him. At the end of the day, I figured out what I had to do and got him done.”

Joshua Vs Alexander Povetkin, September 2018

Joshua’s most recent victory against Alexander Povetkin last year proved a tougher challenge than some were expecting for AJ. He had to dig deep at Wembley to maintain his unbeaten record after some early blows from Povetkin. Joshua’s nose was bloodied in the early exchanges, but ultimately he made his superiority count, flooring his opponent with a brutal seventh-round flurry.
It was an important victory for Joshua having only beaten Joseph Parker by a unanimous decision earlier in the year. Povetkin had never been knocked out before that night, once more highlighting Joshua’s exceptional power and strength.


It was expected that Joshua would go from strength to strength in his career after the Povetkin fight, and take on one of Tyson Fury or Deontay Wilder in the following months. Of course, Ruiz put paid to that notion in style at Madison Square Garden. If Joshua is to exact revenge and reassert his dominance in Saudi Arabia, he will need to produce a performance