Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua (born 15 October 1989) is a British
professional boxer
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...
. He held the
unified world
heavyweight
Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling.
Boxing Professional
Male boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 2 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation an ...
championship twice between 2016 and 2021. At regional level, he held the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
and
Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...
heavyweight titles from 2015 to 2016.
As an
amateur
An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...
, Joshua represented England at the
2011 World Championships, winning the
super-heavyweight silver medal. He also represented
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
at the
2012 Olympics, winning gold. In 2014, a year after turning professional, he was named
Prospect of the Year by ''
The Ring'' magazine.
In 2017, his
victorious fight against
Wladimir Klitschko
Wladimir Klitschko; an equivalent English spelling is Vladimir Klichko . His full name in , . (born 25 March 1976) is a Ukrainian former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2017. He held multiple heavyweight world championships betwe ...
was named
Fight of the Year by ''The Ring'' and the
Boxing Writers Association of America
Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing punches at each other for a ...
.
Early life
Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua was born on 15 October 1989 in
Watford, Hertfordshire, the son of Yeta and Robert Joshua. His mother is Nigerian, while his father is of Nigerian and Irish ancestry.
Joshua's Nigerian background can be specifically traced back to the
Yoruba people
The Yoruba people ( ; , , ) are a West African ethnic group who inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo, which are collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute more than 50 million people in Africa, are over a million outsid ...
, amongst whom he is of
aristocratic rank.
His cousin, Ben Ileyemi, is also a professional boxer. The pair made their professional debuts together in 2013.
Joshua spent some of his early years in
Nigeria
Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
as a
boarding school
A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...
student at
Mayflower School in
Ikenne. Following his parents' divorce when he was 12, he returned to the UK halfway through
Year Seven
Year 7 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand. It is the seventh full year (or eighth in Australia and England) of compulsory education and is roughly equivalent to Sixth gra ...
to join
Kings Langley Secondary School. Growing up on the Meriden Estate in
Garston, Hertfordshire, he was called "Femi" by his friends and former teachers, due to his middle name, Oluwafemi. He excelled at football and athletics and broke his school's
Year Nine
Year 9 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England and Wales, Australia and New Zealand. It is the tenth or eleventh year of compulsory education. Children in this year are generally between 13, 14 and 15, with it ...
100 m record with a time of 11.6 seconds.
Amateur career
A late starter in the sport, Joshua 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
Derek Chisora. Joshua won the 2009 and 2010 Haringey Box Cup. Joshua 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 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 Championships after defeating Amin Isa. At the
2011 European Championships in June he beat the German Eric Brechlin 23:16 and the Irishman Cathal McMonagle 22:10 but was stopped by the 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. Joshua had an amateur record of 40–3.
During the
2011 World Championships in
Baku
Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...
,
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...
, Joshua marked his sudden arrival on the world scene when he beat Italian reigning world and Olympic champion
Roberto Cammarelle
Roberto Cammarelle (born 30 July 1980) is an Italian amateur boxer, best known for winning the World Amateur Boxing Championships in 2007 (Chicago) and 2009 (Milan) as a super heavyweight and a gold medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing ...
, 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
The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
in the
super-heavyweight division as a relative newcomer to the elite level of the sport.

Joshua went into the
2012 London Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
as a novice on the international scene, despite being a world silver medalist. He received a tough draw in the last 16 of the super-heavyweight event in Cuban
Erislandy Savón, ranked No. 4 in the world by
AIBA and nephew of the three time Olympic champion
Félix Savón. 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 taking 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
Kazakh boxer
Ivan Dychko, and despite Joshua's height disadvantage he won by 13:11 to gain a place in the Olympic final. Joshua met 32-year-old reigning Olympic champion and former two-time world champion, Roberto Cammarelle of Italy in the closing bout. After conceding the first two rounds (6:5 and 13:10) to Cammarelle, an adversary he had already beaten the previous year, Joshua grew into the fight and fought back to level the scores after the third round (18:18). Joshua was announced winner via count-back and the new Olympic champion.
The final decision was criticised by some boxing experts, being defined as a "home decision".
He was appointed
Member of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(MBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to boxing by
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
, and later
Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(OBE) on December 2018 in Queen's Birthday's Honours by then
Prince Charles
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms.
Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...
.
Highlights
English National Championships results
2010
*Defeated Dominic Akinlade (England) PTS
*Defeated Luke Herdman (England) RSC-2
*Defeated N/A
WO.
*Defeated Chris Duff (England)
WO.
*Defeated Simon Hadden (England)
WO.
*Defeated Dominic Winrow (England) RSC-1
2011
*Defeated N/A
WO.
*Defeated N/A
WO.
*Defeated Fayz Aboadi Abbas (England) 24–15.
Great Britain Championships results
2010
*Defeated Amin Isa (England) 6-3
International Amateur Boxing Tournament results
2010
*Defeated
Otto Wallin (Sweden) PTS
England vs Ireland results
2010
*Defeated Chris Turner (Ireland) 6-3
AIBA World Boxing Championships results
2011
*Defeated Tariq Abdul-Haqq (Trinidad and Tobago) RSCI-3
*Defeated Juan Isidro Hiracheta (Mexico) AB-1
*Defeated
Mohamed Arjaoui Morocco) 16-7
*Defeated
Roberto Cammarelle
Roberto Cammarelle (born 30 July 1980) is an Italian amateur boxer, best known for winning the World Amateur Boxing Championships in 2007 (Chicago) and 2009 (Milan) as a super heavyweight and a gold medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing ...
(Italy) 15-13
*Defeated Erik Pfeifer (Germany) RSCI-1
*Lost to
Magomedrasul Medzhidov (Azerbaijan) 22-21
Algirdas Socikas Tournament results
2012
*Defeated Sean Turner (Ireland) 9-5
*Defeated
Johan Linde (Australia) KO-1
*Defeated Aidas Petruskevicius (Lithuania) W0.
European Amateur Boxing Championships results
2011
*Defeated Eric Brechlin (Germany) 23-16
*Defeated Cathal McMonagle (Ireland) 22-10
*Lost to
Mihai Nistor (Romania) RSCH-3
Bocskai Memorial results
2012
*Defeated
Sergey Kuzmin (Russia) 9-7
*Defeated Sardor Abdullayev (Uzbekistan) RSC-3
Olympic Games results
2012
*Defeated
Erislandy Savón (Cuba) 17-16
*Defeated
Zhang Zhilei (China) 15:11
*Defeated
Ivan Dychko (Kazakhstan) 13-11
*Defeated
Roberto Cammarelle
Roberto Cammarelle (born 30 July 1980) is an Italian amateur boxer, best known for winning the World Amateur Boxing Championships in 2007 (Chicago) and 2009 (Milan) as a super heavyweight and a gold medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing ...
(Italy) +18-18
Professional career
Early career
On 11 July 2013 it was confirmed that Joshua had turned professional under the
Matchroom Sport
Matchroom Sport is a UK-based sporting event promotions company founded by Barry Hearn and run by him and his son Eddie Hearn. It first came to attention in the sports of snooker and boxing and is also involved in pool (cue sports), pool, bowl ...
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 (Regular)
super-bantamweight
Super bantamweight, also known as junior featherweight, is a boxing weight classes, weight class in professional boxing, contested from and up to .
There were attempts by boxing promoters in the 1920s to establish this weight class, but few sanct ...
title defence against
Yoandris Salinas, beating Italian Emanuele Leo by a
technical knockout
A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...
(TKO) in the first round. Joshua's second fight was against English heavyweight
Paul Butlin at the
Motorpoint Arena in
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...
on 26 October 2013. The bout was stopped in the second round when the referee decided Butlin was taking too much punishment and declared Joshua the winner by TKO. Joshua's third fight was on the
Prizefighter Series card against
Croatian Hrvoje Kišiček on 14 November 2013. Joshua got a TKO victory in the second round, achieving his third
knockout
A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, ...
(KO) victory in a row.
[. Retrieved 26 November 2015.]
In February 2014, Joshua scored a second-round TKO victory over Dorian Darch to take his record to 4–0. The following month, on the undercard of
Ricky Burns
Ricky Burns (born 13 April 1983) is a Scottish professional boxer who held the WBO super-featherweight title from 2010 to 2011, the WBO lightweight title from 2012 to 2014, and the WBA light welterweight title from 2016 to 2017. At regional ...
against Terence Crawford
Terence Allan Crawford (born September 28, 1987) is an American professional boxer. He has held multiple quadruple champion#Boxing, world championships in four weight classes, from lightweight to light middleweight, including the undisputed cha ...
, Joshua defeated
Hector Alfredo Avila with a first-round KO, in
Glasgow
Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
, Scotland. In May that year Joshua knocked out Matt Legg in one round on the undercard of
Carl Froch vs. George Groves II at
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...
. In Joshua's seventh fight, on 12 July 2014 at the
Echo Arena
Liverpool Arena, known for sponsorship reasons as the M&S Bank Arena and previously the Echo Arena, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the city centre of Liverpool, England. The venue hosts live music, comedy performances and sporting events, ...
,
Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
, he defeated Englishman
Matt Skelton via second-round stoppage.
In Joshua's eighth fight, on 13 September 2014, against
German heavyweight
Konstantin Airich, Joshua took his undefeated record to 8–0 with a third-round stoppage victory at the
Manchester Arena
Manchester Arena (currently known as AO Arena for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena in Manchester, England, immediately north of the Manchester city centre, city centre and partly above Manchester Victoria station in air rights space. Pr ...
.
Joshua was in the Main-Event of a Matchroom Sport card for the second time in his career, in his ninth professional appearance for the vacant
WBC International heavyweight title against
Dennis Bakhtov, the former champion looking to win the title for a second time, on 11 October 2014 at
The O2 Arena
The O2 Arena, commonly known as The O2, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of The O2 entertainment district on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London, England. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the third-highest seat ...
in London. Joshua won the fight by KO in the second round, taking his record to 9–0 and winning the WBC International heavyweight title aged just 24.
In his tenth bout, on 22 November 2014, Joshua defeated
Michael Sprott within the first round to extend his record to ten wins, all by stoppage. With the fight only lasting 1 minute and 26 seconds, it gave Joshua a total ring time in the professional ranks of just 36 minutes and 36 seconds.
He was supposed to face American boxer
Kevin Johnson on 31 January 2015 at The O2 Arena in London, but the bout was cancelled after Joshua sustained a back injury. On 4 April 2015, Joshua beat Jason Gavern with a third-round KO in his return to the ring in
Newcastle
Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...
. On 9 May 2015, in his twelfth bout, Joshua defeated Raphael Zumbano Love in a second-round KO in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
. On 30 May 2015, Joshua defeated former world title challenger
Kevin Johnson (29–6–1, 14 KOs), 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. Prior to the fight, Johnson had taken the likes of
Vitali Klitschko
Vitalii Volodymyrovych Klychko (; ; born 19 July 1971), known as Vitali Klitschko, is a Ukrainian politician and former professional boxer. He serves as mayor of Kyiv,[Tyson Fury
Tyson Luke Fury (born 12 August 1988) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2008 to 2024. He held multiple world heavyweight championships, including unified titles from 2015 to 2016, the '' Ring'' magazine title twice bet ...]
and
Derek Chisora the twelve-round distance. A day after the fight, Johnson announced his retirement, although he made a comeback in March 2017.
British and Commonwealth champion
Joshua vs. Cornish
On 16 July 2015, it was announced that Joshua would fight undefeated Scottish boxer
Gary Cornish (21–0, 12 KOs) for the vacant
Commonwealth heavyweight title at The O2 Arena, London, on 12 September. At the time of the fight, Cornish was the
IBO Intercontinental champion. Joshua won the vacant title by stopping Cornish at just 90 seconds in the first round. Cornish was knocked down twice before the fight was officially stopped. In the post-fight, Joshua said, "Gary had a solid jab so I had to make sure I didn't take any of those shots. He was throwing a large jab and I tried to slip it. I managed to land the right hand and it was a perfect connection and he went down."
Joshua vs. Whyte
Immediately after Joshua stopped Cornish, Joshua's promoter,
Eddie Hearn, confirmed
Dillian Whyte would next put his undefeated record on the line against Joshua. Joshua met Whyte in a grudge match for the vacant
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
heavyweight title on 12 December 2015, whilst also defending his Commonwealth heavyweight title for the first time. The fight took place on
Sky Box Office. The two had previously fought within the amateur rankings in 2009 where Whyte had won. After surviving the first scare of his 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 KO in the seventh round. It is said that Joshua earned £3 million for this fight alone, as a result of signing a new five-year deal with Matchroom which sees him take a share of the
PPV revenue earned.
IBF heavyweight champion
Joshua vs. Martin
In February 2016, it was announced that Joshua would face
IBF heavyweight champion Charles Martin (23–0–1, 21 KOs) on 9 April 2016 at the O2 Arena. Martin was making the first defence of the belt that he won after defeating
Vyacheslav Glazkov for the vacant title in January 2016. Joshua set the pace in the first round and kept the
southpaw Martin at bay before sending him to the canvas with a straight right hand in the second round. Martin got to his feet, only to be knocked down for a second time by a similar punch just moments later. This time Martin failed to beat the count after taking too long to get up, and the referee waved the fight off, with Joshua winning his first world title.
Martin was heavily criticized for his performance, and apparent lack of ambition to win the fight. Observers accused him of quitting early, feeling that he could have got up quicker and fought on. Martin later placed the blame on the pre-fight distractions, claiming that he was 'mentally not there'. At just 85 days, Martin's reign as IBF heavyweight champion was the second shortest in professional boxing history, with only
Tony Tucker's 1987 reign being shorter.
Joshua vs. Breazeale
Promoter Eddie Hearn announced a three-man shortlist from the IBF's top 15 ranked boxers for Joshua's first defence of his title. This included former
WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne (25–1–2, 21 KOs) and
Eric Molina (25–3, 19 KOs), both of whom were recently beaten by American WBC champion
Deontay Wilder, alongside unbeaten upcoming fighter
Dominic Breazeale (17–0, 15 KOs). On 25 April, it was announced that Joshua's next fight will be against Dominic Breazeale on 25 June 2016 at the O2 Arena in London. Breazeale was ranked 13th by the IBF, below British pair
Derek Chisora and
David Haye. Breazeale became only the second boxer, after
Dillian Whyte, to take Joshua past three rounds. After a dominant performance, Joshua successfully defended his IBF heavyweight title with a seventh-round knockout win. Breazeale was dropped heavily by a huge left hand. After the fight, Eddie Hearn said Joshua could next fight IBF
mandatory challenger,
Joseph Parker
Joseph Dennis Parker, (born 9 January 1992) is a New Zealand professional boxer. He has held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) Interim championship, interim heavyweight title since 2024. Previously, he held the WBO heavyweight title from 2016 ...
, around November. The fight averaged 289,000 viewers on
Showtime in the afternoon. The card averaged 227,000 viewers.
A week after the fight was announced against Breazeale, Joshua announced a new multi-fight deal with US broadcaster
Showtime. The fight screened live in the States by Showtime after they signed up as Joshua's exclusive US partner.
Joshua vs. Molina
It was announced in August that Joshua would be making a second defence of his IBF title at the
Manchester Arena
Manchester Arena (currently known as AO Arena for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena in Manchester, England, immediately north of the Manchester city centre, city centre and partly above Manchester Victoria station in air rights space. Pr ...
in Manchester, on 26 November. This would mark the first time since September 2014 that Joshua would be fighting in the city. Possible names put forward for the fight were top IBF contenders
Kubrat Pulev and
Joseph Parker
Joseph Dennis Parker, (born 9 January 1992) is a New Zealand professional boxer. He has held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) Interim championship, interim heavyweight title since 2024. Previously, he held the WBO heavyweight title from 2016 ...
. Former
unified heavyweight champion
Wladimir Klitschko
Wladimir Klitschko; an equivalent English spelling is Vladimir Klichko . His full name in , . (born 25 March 1976) is a Ukrainian former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2017. He held multiple heavyweight world championships betwe ...
became the front-runner after his scheduled rematch with
Tyson Fury
Tyson Luke Fury (born 12 August 1988) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2008 to 2024. He held multiple world heavyweight championships, including unified titles from 2015 to 2016, the '' Ring'' magazine title twice bet ...
was cancelled a second time.
A deal could not be finalized for Joshua vs. Klitschko, due to the
WBA delaying a decision to sanction the fight and Klitschko injuring himself, which put the fight off completely. Klitschko said he would be looking to fight Joshua in the first quarter of 2017.
Bryant Jennings and
David Price were the names being pushed forward to fight Joshua next, however it was announced Joshua would be fighting at the Manchester Arena, defending his world title against former world title challenger
Eric Molina (25–3, 19 KOs), who was coming off a stoppage victory against
Tomasz Adamek, although being behind on the official scorecards. The fight was televised in the US live on Showtime. After two one sided rounds, which saw Molina hardly throw a punch, Joshua knocked Molina out in the third round. He was first dropped after a right hand to the jaw. Molina beat the count but was met with a flurry of punches, forcing referee Steve Gray to end the fight.
According to
Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
, the fight peaked at 390,000 on Showtime, with an average viewing of 368,000 viewers. On 22 May 2018,
UK Anti-Doping issued Molina with a two-year ban from fighting in the UK, backdated from 28 October 2017 until 28 October 2019. Molina tested positive for
dexamethasone
Dexamethasone is a fluorinated glucocorticoid medication used to treat rheumatic problems, a number of skin diseases, severe allergies, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), croup, brain swelling, eye pain following eye su ...
, a
corticosteroid
Corticosteroids are a class of steroid hormones that are produced in the adrenal cortex of vertebrates, as well as the synthetic analogues of these hormones. Two main classes of corticosteroids, glucocorticoids and mineralocorticoids, are invo ...
, after his loss to Joshua. There was some controversy as Molina had fought twice after in 2017.
First reign as unified heavyweight champion
Joshua vs. Klitschko
On 2 November 2016, the WBA agreed to sanction a
unification bout between Joshua and Klitschko for the vacant
WBA (Super)
The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is an international professional boxing organization based in Panama. The WBA awards its world championship title at the professional level.
Founded i ...
title, previously held by Tyson Fury. The WBA agreement was, if Joshua retained his belt against Eric Molina, the fight would take place on 29 April 2017, at Wembley Stadium in London.
After Joshua knocked out Molina in the third round, the Joshua vs. Klitschko fight was officially announced by Hearn in the ring.
WBA president Gilberto J. Mendoza confirmed that the winner will have to face mandatory challenger
Luis Ortiz next, with deadlines due to be set after the unification fight. A day later the IBF announced the winner must fight their mandatory challenger
Kubrat Pulev. Because of this clashing with the WBA enforcing their mandatory, it was believed that either Joshua or Klitschko would have to vacate a title. In January 2017, Eddie Hearn announced that over 80,000 tickets had been sold, a new box office record, overtaking
Carl Froch vs. George Groves II. He put a request in for 5,000 more tickets to be made available. It was reported that Joshua would earn in the region of £15 million for the fight. At the weigh-in, Klitschko, 41 at the time of the fight, weighed in at 240 and a quarter pounds, the lightest he had weighed since 2009. Joshua, 27, came in heavier at 250 pounds.
In front of a post-war record crowd of 90,000 in attendance, Joshua won by TKO in a high-drama war that saw both men giving their all. They fought a close and cautious first four rounds. In the fifth, Joshua came and threw a flurry of punches, forcing Klitschko to the canvas. An angry Klitschko rose up and took control for the remainder of the round, landing clean punches and scoring his own knockdown in round six. The next few rounds were again cautious, both men wary of each other, until a reinvigorated Joshua attacked Klitschko in round eleven, sending him to the canvas. Klitschko again rose but Joshua knocked him down for a second time in the round. When Klitschko rose back to his feet, Joshua threw a barrage of unanswered punches while Klitschko was against the ropes, prompting the referee to stop the fight.
At the time of stoppage, Joshua was ahead on two of the judges' scorecards at 96–93 and 95–93, while the third judge had Klitschko ahead with 95–93.
CompuBox stats showed that Joshua landed 107 of his 355 punches thrown (30%), and Klitschko landed 94 of 256 (37%). Joshua called out Fury in the post fight interview, "Tyson Fury, where you at, baby? Come on -- that's what they want to see. I just want to fight everyone. I'm really enjoying this right now." In the press conference after the fight, Joshua said he would have no issues with having another fight with Klitschko, "I don't mind fighting him again, if he wants the rematch. Big respect to Wladimir for challenging the young lions of the division. It's up to him, I don't mind. As long as Rob thinks it's good I'm good to go." Eddie Hearn said Joshua's next fight would likely take place at the end of the year, possibly at the
Principality Stadium in
Cardiff
Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...
.
The fight averaged 659,000 viewers on Showtime in the United States. It was shown live and the fight began around 5 pm. ET and 2 pm. PT.
Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
revealed the fight peaked at 687,000 viewers which was during rounds five and six. This was an increase from Joshua's previous Showtime numbers that aired live during the late afternoon. The delayed tape-replay on
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...
was watched by an average 738,000 viewers and peaked at 890,000.
In a press release, German TV channel
RTL announced the fight was watched by an average 10.43 million viewers. The whole card averaged 9.59 million viewers. This was higher than the 8.91 million that tuned in to watch
Klitschko vs. Fury in 2015.
On 7 June 2017, the IBF granted Joshua an exemption for him to rematch Klitschko instead of fighting mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev. At this point, it was not said that the rematch would take place. Klitschko said he needed time to review his situation before agreeing to a rematch. It was only weeks after the fight, when Eddie Hearn filed the paperwork to the IBF to request the exemption to the mandatory defence. IBF explained that the rematch must take place no later than 2 December 2017, and the winner must fight Pulev next with no exemptions. On 2 August, Joshua revealed he would need to start a three-month training camp on 22 August, if he was to fight on 11 November, therefore hoping a fight with Klitschko would be finalised by then. However, on 3 August 2017, soon after the IBF granted an exemption, Klitschko announced on his website and
social media
Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
channels that he was retiring from the sport of boxing. Thus, ending the possibility of a Joshua v Klitschko rematch.
Joshua vs. Takam

On 3 August 2017, Klitschko announced on his website and social media channels that he was retiring from boxing.
As a result, on 4 August, upon learning that Klitschko had retired, the IBF immediately ordered Joshua and 36-year-old
Kubrat Pulev (25–1, 13 KOs) to fight next, with a deal needing to be reached by 3 September 2017. The WBA then ordered Joshua to make his mandatory defence against their top ranked fighter Luis Ortiz, giving them 30 days to reach a deal. According to Hearn, the plan was to fight Pulev next, followed by Ortiz and then a potential unification fight against
Deontay Wilder. On 22 August, details between the camps of Joshua and Pulev were being discussed and close to being finalised for the date of 28 October 2017, with Las Vegas as the potential host.
On 28 August, it was announced that Joshua and Pulev would fight at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
Promoter Eddie Hearn made the official announcement on 5 September, "I'm delighted that we will be in Cardiff at the magnificent Principality Stadium for the next step of the AJ journey. Nearly 80,000 will gather on Oct. 28 to create another unforgettable night of boxing. Anthony will meet his mandatory challenger,
BFNo. 1-ranked Kubrat Pulev, and the card will be stacked with world championship action, domestic title fights and the very best young stars in the game. Get ready for the next episode from the biggest star in world boxing." The official press conference took place on 11 September, and the following day, a reported 70,000 tickets had been sold, making it the fastest selling event. It also set the record of largest boxing attendance to be expected indoors. The previous record was
Muhammad Ali vs. Leon Spinks rematch which gathered 63,000 fans at the
New Orleans Superdome in 1978. Joshua's three-fight deal with Showtime had expired, giving Eddie Hearn the chance to talk to other providers. Showtime had the right of first option and a matching right, if any providers bid higher. When HBO bid $1.6 million for the rights to show the fight, Showtime matched the bid, meaning the fight would be shown live in the afternoon on Showtime.
On 16 October, rumours circulated that Pulev had suffered an injury, which could see the fight being in jeopardy. The same reports suggested the injury was 10 days old, but Pulev's camp had kept it quiet. The injury was later revealed to be true and 36-year-old
Carlos Takam (35–3–1, 27 KOs), who was ranked number 3 by the IBF, stepped in to replace Pulev on 12 days notice. Eddie Hearn said in a statement that he received a phone call from Pulev's promoter
Kalle Sauerland advising him of a shoulder injury he had sustained during sparring. Hearn revealed when the Joshua vs. Pulev fight was made, he contacted Takam's camp, knowing they would be next in line and told them to begin a training camp and stay on standby. IBF stated that Joshua fighting Takam would satisfy his mandatory defence.
Despite Hearn claiming Joshua would weigh around 235–240 pounds, he officially weighed a career-heavy 254 pounds, while Takam came in a 235 pounds.
On fight night, in front of nearly 80,000 fans in attendance, Joshua retained his world titles with what many believed was a premature stoppage in round ten. The official time of stoppage was 1 minute, 34 seconds. Many fans ringside booed the referee stoppage, which saw Takam go out on his feet. After a cagey first round, the second round saw Takam accidentally headbutt Joshua's nose, likely breaking it, causing Joshua's eyes to water. In round four, Joshua opened up a cut above Takam's right eye. After the referee checked the eye, Joshua knocked Takam down with a left hook to the head. He beat the count and lasted the remainder of the round. Another cut appeared above Takam's left eye in round seven. Referee Phil Edwards asked the ringside doctor to take a look at Takam a few times during the fight. In rounds eight and nine, Joshua started to back off, which saw Takam come forward and land some good shots to Joshua's head. In round ten, Joshua landed a clean right uppercut followed by a barrage of punches. Referee Phil Edwards, seeing this, stepped in between, halting the fight. A doctor confirmed that Joshua's nose was not broken, only bruised and swollen.
It was revealed at the time of the stoppage, judges Pawel Kardyni and Michael Alexander had Joshua ahead 89–81, whilst judge Ron McNair had the fight 90–80 perfect for Joshua. In the post-fight interview, Joshua was asked about the stoppage, to which he replied, "It was a good fight until the ref stopped it, I have the utmost respect for Takam. I have no interest for what's going on with the officials. My job is the opponent. I don't have control over the ref's decision." Takam believed the fight was stopped too early, stating he would appreciate a rematch. Hearn and Joshua spoke about potential fights in 2018, which included fights with Joseph Parker and Deontay Wilder, where a win against both would see Joshua the undisputed champion and an all-English clash against
Tyson Fury
Tyson Luke Fury (born 12 August 1988) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2008 to 2024. He held multiple world heavyweight championships, including unified titles from 2015 to 2016, the '' Ring'' magazine title twice bet ...
. CompuBox stats showed that Joshua landed 152 of 454 punches thrown (34%) and Takam was less busy connecting 52 of his 222 thrown (23%). The fight, which was shown live in the US on Showtime, averaged 334,000 viewers. A replay was shown later in the evening, which averaged 309,000 viewers.
Joshua vs. Parker
It was reported that
Joseph Parker
Joseph Dennis Parker, (born 9 January 1992) is a New Zealand professional boxer. He has held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) Interim championship, interim heavyweight title since 2024. Previously, he held the WBO heavyweight title from 2016 ...
's team were looking at
Lucas Browne as a potential match-up if they failed to land a unification fight with Joshua. According to Higgins, a date in March 2018 was being discussed with Joshua's team, however Eddie Hearn offered an 80–20 split, which would favour Joshua. Higgins spoke to
Fairfax Media
Fairfax Media was a media (communication), media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased ''The ...
, saying the offer would need to be more reasonable, also taking into consideration the fight would take place in the UK. Other names discussed for a Summer 2018 fight included
Bryant Jennings and
Alexander Povetkin
Alexander Vladimirovich Povetkin (; born 2 September 1979) is a Russian former professional boxer who competed from 2005 to 2021. He held the World Boxing Association (WBA) ( Regular version) heavyweight title from 2011 to 2013; the World Boxing ...
. According to a Tweet from Parker on 15 November, he was offered less than half of what was paid to Charles Martin when he defended his IBF title against Joshua. The next day, Higgins told Fairfax Media that he and Hearn were still negotiating a deal that would benefit all parties. Parker stated he was willing to drop to 35% of the net profit. Higgins made a final offer to Hearn on 22 November. He told Sky Sports, "It's our final bottom line decision. We feel anything less is disrespectful or a disgrace." On 29 November, Hearn stated the fight could be confirmed within two weeks. Higgins listed
Camp Nou
Camp Nou (), meaning ''New Field'' and often referred to in English as the Nou Camp, is a stadium in Barcelona and the home of La Liga club FC Barcelona since its opening in 1957. It is currently undergoing renovation, and with a planned increa ...
as the potential venue. According to Hearn on 11 December, a deal was very close to being announced with the Principality Stadium a frontrunner to host the fight. Hearn jokingly said they were over-paying Parker, with the deal being 65–35. On 28 December, Higgins announced that a split had been agreed which would see Parker earn between 30 and 35% of the purse and the fight should take place in April 2018. Higgins stated that a rematch clause would be in place for Joshua, should he lose. In a potential rematch, Parker would get a 55% split. On 8 January 2018, the Principality Stadium in Cardiff was confirmed as the venue for the fight. On 14 January, negotiations came to a close and the fight was officially announced to take place on 31 March in Cardiff, live on Sky Sports Box Office. In an official press release on 5 February, Showtime announced they would televise the fight live in the US. On 16 February, it was noted that Joshua was weighed around 247 pounds, nearly 10 pounds lighter than he weighed against Takam. A picture was posted on Twitter which revealed the scales that Joshua stood on, his weight was at 112.9 kilograms. Joshua and Parker both came in lighter compared to their respective previous bouts. Parker weighed in first at 236.7 pounds, his lightest since he fought
Solomon Haumono in 2016. Joshua weighed 242.2 pounds, his lightest since 2014 when he fought Michael Sprott. It was reported that Joshua would earn a career-high £18 million and Parker would also earn a career-high pay of £8 million.
Joshua was forced to go the distance for the first time in his 20–0 career, to defeat Parker, via twelve-round
unanimous decision
A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighte ...
(UD) to claim Parker's
WBO heavyweight title, as well as retain his WBA (Super), IBF and IBO titles. The judges scored the fight 118–110 twice, and 119–109 in favour of Joshua. Many media outlets including
ESPN
ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
had the fight around 116–112 with Joshua the clear winner. With going the distance, Joshua's 20 fight knockout streak came to an end. Parker used his movement well to slip a lot of Joshua's attacks but in doing so did not do enough himself to win more rounds. Parker started on the backfoot in the opening rounds allowing Joshua to gain a foothold. There was an accidental clash of heads in round three, however neither boxer was cut from this. There was another accidental head-butt in round nine where the referee called for a short break. Joshua's tape on his left glove kept coming loose and he was ordered to go back to his corner for a re-tape. Parker suffered a cut over his left eye after Joshua accidentally elbowed him. In round twelve, neither boxer engaged as much as expected with Joshua trying to track Parker down, who again, on the back-foot, looked to survive the round. The fight was marred by Italian referee Giuseppe Quartarone, who kept both boxers from fighting on the inside. This mostly had a negative impact on Parker, where he was seen to have the most success. The referee was breaking the action each time both boxers were on the inside, even when they were still throwing shots. Many boxers, pundits and both the Sky Sports and Showtime broadcast teams criticised the referee during and after the fight.
After the fight, Joshua explained his game plan for the fight, "My strategy in there was kind of stick behind the jab. It's one of the most important weapons. The old saying is the right hand could take you around the block, but a good jab will take you around the world. And that secured another championship belt. So I stuck behind the jab and I made sure anything that was coming back, I was switched on, I was focused and 12 rounds, baby! I thought it was hard, right?" Parker was humble in defeat and stated he would be back even stronger, "Today I got beaten by a better champion, bigger man. A lot to work on. It was a good experience being here. Thank you all for the opportunity to fight in this big stadium. We're gonna go back, train hard, plan again and come back stronger. No regrets, you know, take it on the chin. … So we'll be back again." When asked what he would do different, Parker replied, "Work harder. Come back stronger, more punches. But I would love to have another go. Just back to the drawing board." During the post fight press conference, Parker's team stated the referee did not speak English, whereas Joshua and his promoter Hearn disagreed and said he spoke English fluently. CompuBox punch stats showed that Joshua landed 139 of 383 punches thrown (36.3%) and Parker landed 101 of his 492 thrown (20.5%).
The fight was shown live in the US on Showtime in the afternoon. The live showing averaged 346,000 viewers and peaked at 379,000 viewers. A replay was shown later in the evening which saw an increase. The replay averaged 430,000 viewers and peaked at 483,000 viewers. Nielsen Media Research, who released the figures do not have the facility to measure whether the same customers that watched the live showing tuned in for the replay.
Joshua vs. Povetkin

From April up until the end of June 2018, both camps of Joshua and Wilder were in talks around the super fight between the two to finally take place. The main hurdles were the purse split, date and venue. At one point Wilder had agreed to fight Joshua in the UK, however there was slight confusions in the contracts that were being sent back and forth. At the same time, Hearn was also working out a deal for Joshua to fight WBA mandatory challenger
Alexander Povetkin
Alexander Vladimirovich Povetkin (; born 2 September 1979) is a Russian former professional boxer who competed from 2005 to 2021. He held the World Boxing Association (WBA) ( Regular version) heavyweight title from 2011 to 2013; the World Boxing ...
(34–1, 24 KOs). The WBA initially ordered the fight after Povetkin knocked out David Price on the Joshua-Parker undercard. Negotiations took a turn on 26 June when the WBA gave Joshua's camp 24 hours to finalise a deal with Povetkin. With Joshua closer to fighting Povetkin in September 2018, Hearn stated the Joshua-Wilder fight would still take place in April 2019 at Wembley Stadium. Hearn later explained that the WBA would have granted an exemption, had Wilder signed a deal to fight Joshua.
On 5 July, Hearn announced that Wembley Stadium in London would host Joshua's next two fights on 22 September 2018 and again on 13 April 2019. On 16 July, Joshua vs. Povetkin for the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight titles was officially announced for 22 September on Sky Box Office. Many British pundits and trainers spoke of how Joshua should not underestimate Povetkin and how he would pose a big threat to Joshua. On 27 July, Joshua signed a new three-year deal with Matchroom Boxing, which would see him showcased on Sky Box Office for at least another five fights, including the bout with Povetkin. On 1 August, it was revealed by the WBO that the bout against Povetkin would satisfy Joshua's mandatory defences for both the WBA and WBO, since Povetkin was ranked as number 1 by both governing bodies. It was also announced that Joshua would be named the WBO's Super Champion should he defeat Povetkin.
In front of nearly 80,000 in attendance, Joshua overcame an initial struggle, eventually knocking out Povetkin in round seven to retain his world titles. Using his movement and coming in and out, Povetkin had Joshua hurt early on with his big shots. In round two, Joshua's nose began to bruise. From round five, Povetkin began to tire. Joshua dropped Povetkin with a left hand to the head in round seven. Povetkin got back up but Joshua was straight back in with a flurry of hard shots, prompting the referee to stop the fight. At the time of stoppage, the three judges scorecards were 58–56 twice, and 59–55 in favour of Joshua.
In the post-fight interview, Joshua stated, "I've got my knockout streak back and I found my right hand again. Alexander Povetkin is a very tough challenge. He provided that, he was good with left hook. I realized he was strong to the head but weak to the body so I was switching it up. Every jab takes a breath out of you and I slowed him down." He then stated he would post a poll on Twitter asking the fans who they would like to see him fight next. CompuBox stats showed that Joshua landed 90 of 256 punches thrown (35%), with 53 of them landed being jabs. Povetkin landed 47 of his 181 thrown (26%). Povekin connected with 43 power shots compared to Joshua 37 landed. There was also a huge size advantage in favour of Joshua, who weighed 246 pounds to Povetkin's 222 pounds. It was reported that Joshua would earn around £20 million and Povetkin would earn around £6 million for the fight.
Joshua vs. Ruiz Jr.
On 29 December 2018, with Joshua's Wembley date still on hold, Hearn stated that Dillian Whyte was the frontrunner to challenge Joshua. Whilst still waiting for Hearn to contact him, Whyte claimed to hear rumours that Joshua would drop the Wembley date and instead fight American contender
Jarrell Miller at
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...
. On 12 January 2019, Whyte revealed that he had turned down a 'severe lowball' offer from Joshua to fight him in a rematch. Whyte did not reveal the figure, however claimed it was lower than what he received against Chisora in December 2018. By 21 January, Hearn stated there could be a possibility Joshua may well fight in the US instead. According to Hearn, it was Joshua who was making the offer for the Whyte fight. Whyte claimed Joshua did not want to fight him, as he had known since September 2018, that he would be fighting in April 2019, yet did not make any offers. On 1 February, Hearn admitted it was becoming highly unlikely that Joshua would still fight at Wembley Stadium on 13 April. On 2 February, Whyte claimed the Joshua fight 'was dead' and he was to look at other options, including a potential fight with
Dominic Breazeale. According to Miller, Joshua initially offered Whyte $3 million, then increased the offer to $5 million, only to go down to $3.5 million.

On 8 February, terms were agreed for Joshua to defend his unified heavyweight titles against Jarrell Miller (23–0–1, 20 KOs) on 1 June at Madison Square Garden in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, marking Joshua's US debut. The event became the highest grossing pre-sale in the arena's boxing history. The launch presser began to heat up right from the start after Miller shoved Joshua during their first face off. It eventually settled down and both parties took to their seats. From there on, it was a back and forth verbal exchange, before Miller stormed off the stage. Joshua stayed and answered any remaining questions from the media. It was reported that Joshua would pocket £19.3 million (equivalent to $25 million) for his US debut. Another report claimed Joshua was to earn an estimated $32 million. Miller's deal with DAZN ensured he received a career-high purse of $4.875 million, which would include two more bouts on DAZN worth $3 million.
On 17 April 2019, both camps confirmed the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association had informed them that Miller had tested positive for the banned substance
GW1516. The test results were from a random VADA-conducted urine test Miller submitted to on 20 March.
Further tests taken on 31 March proved positive for
EPO,
HGH and GW1516 again. Many boxers, including
Ivan Dychko and
Manuel Charr put their names forward to fight Joshua instead. Hearn reportedly spoke to 16 heavyweights in the space of 24 hours. Luis Ortiz was the first name that Joshua wanted as a replacement. Hearn was adamant that Joshua would still fight on that date as 17,000 tickets had already been sold, with 10,000 of those being from Britain.
Prior to his fight with
Alexander Dimitrenko, on 20 April, former world title challenger
Andy Ruiz Jr. (31–1, 20 KOs) put his name forward to replace Miller and challenge Joshua for the unified heavyweight titles on 1 June 2019. On 22 April, Ruiz confirmed his team had a meeting scheduled with promoter Eddie Hearn, officially putting himself in the running. Ruiz became a frontrunner after it was reported Luis Ortiz' team had rejected two offers of career high purses to fight Joshua. Terms were agreed within a week. On 1 May, with one month to go before fight night, Joshua vs. Ruiz was confirmed and announced to take place at Madison Square Garden in New York City exclusively on
DAZN
DAZN (; pronounced "da zone") is a British Over-the-top media service, over-the-top sports Sports broadcasting, streaming and entertainment platform. Founded in 2007 as Perform Group via the merger of Premium TV Limited and Inform Group, it is o ...
in the US. It was reported that Ruiz would earn around $7 million (£5.36m) for the bout.
Joshua dropped Ruiz in the third round, for the first time in the challenger's career. Ruiz beat the count, and scored his own knock down moments later. Joshua was down again towards the end of the round in a massive turn around. Joshua managed to survive the next few rounds, but after a further two knock-downs in the seventh round, the referee waved the fight off, therefore giving Ruiz the win by TKO in the seventh round, gaining all of Joshua's four heavyweight titles. At the time of stoppage, Ruiz was leading the fight 57–56 on two scorecards and Joshua was leading 57–56 on the other. It is considered to be one of the biggest upsets in the history of boxing, rivalling
Mike Tyson vs. Buster Douglas.
Second reign as unified heavyweight champion
Joshua vs. Ruiz Jr. II

A rematch took place on 7 December 2019 at the purpose built Diriyah Arena in
Diriyah
Diriyah (; formerly romanization of Arabic, romanized as Dereyeh and Dariyya) is a towns in Saudi Arabia, town and governorate in Saudi Arabia. Located on the northwestern outskirts of the Saudi capital, Riyadh, Diriyah was the original home of t ...
, Saudi Arabia. At the weigh-in, Joshua came in at 237 pounds (107 kg), nearly ten pounds (4.5 kg) lighter than in the pair's first match. By contrast, Ruiz weighed in at 284 pounds (129 kg), 16 pounds (7.5 kg) heavier than before. On the night, Joshua boxed a disciplined fight, keeping Ruiz at a distance with his jab and using lateral movement to avoid trading punches up close as he had in their first encounter. He started off well, landing a sharp right hand in the first round that cut Ruiz to the side of his left eye. Joshua continued to box economically and land the more meaningful punches. Ruiz had some success when he tagged Joshua to the head and body at the end of the fourth round, but Joshua remained firmly in control of the action. He won via unanimous decision to reclaim the unified heavyweight titles with scores of 118–110 on two judges' scorecards and 119–109 on the other's. In his post-fight interview, a jubilant Joshua declared, "Man, the first time was so nice, I had to do it twice... Stay hungry, stay humble. I'm humble in defeat and will stay humble in victory." Ruiz showed his opponent respect, saying "Anthony Joshua did a hell of a job."
Joshua vs. Pulev
Joshua had been initially announced to fight
Kubrat Pulev in 2017, but a late injury to Pulev saw
Carlos Takam replace him for
the fight.
On 2 March 2020 it was announced that Joshua would defend his heavyweight titles against Pulev (28-1, 14 KOs), who was IBF mandatory challenger, at
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
's
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is the home of Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur in North London, replacing the club's previous ground, White Hart Lane. With a seating capacity of 62,850, it is the List of football stadium ...
on 20 June. However, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, the fight was postponed indefinitely on 3 April 2020. The fight was re-announced with a new date of 12 December and a new venue of
The O2 Arena
The O2 Arena, commonly known as The O2, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of The O2 entertainment district on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London, England. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the third-highest seat ...
in London. The fight was later moved again to
Wembley Arena
Wembley Arena () (originally the Empire Pool, currently known as OVO Energy, OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, Greater London, England. The 12,500-seat facility is Greater Lond ...
, and it was announced that up to 1,000 fans would be able to attend due to the recent relaxation of coronavirus restrictions. On the night, Joshua dropped his opponent twice in the third round, and ultimately defeated Pulev by ninth-round knockout to retain his unified heavyweight titles. Former
five-division champion Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. (né Sinclair; born February 24, 1977) is an American boxing promoter and former professional boxer who competed between 1996 and 2017. He list of undefeated boxing world champions, retired with an undefeated record a ...
had been in attendance; Joshua paid tribute to him after the fight, saying "It was an honour to have him in the house. I respect him highly for what he has achieved. He came to see me perform and I pulled off one of his favourite moves - the pull-counter." Mayweather reciprocated the praise, saying "I'm proud of Joshua. He is one of the best heavyweights out there. He won
n Olympicgold medal, his career is going great, a two-time heavyweight champion. He is a hell of a fighter. He is a gentleman and I enjoy his craft."
Joshua vs. Usyk
Immediately after defeating IBF
mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev on 12 December 2020 in London, Joshua was asked in the post-fight interview about the prospect of an undisputed fight with undefeated
WBC and ''
The Ring'' champion
Tyson Fury
Tyson Luke Fury (born 12 August 1988) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2008 to 2024. He held multiple world heavyweight championships, including unified titles from 2015 to 2016, the '' Ring'' magazine title twice bet ...
, to which Joshua responded, "Whoever's got the belt, I'd love to compete with him. If that is Tyson Fury, let it be Tyson Fury." A two-fight deal between the two champions had been agreed "in principle" since June 2020. On 17 May 2021, Fury announced on his social media that the fight between him and Joshua would take place on 14 August 2021 in
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...
. However, within 24 hours of the announcement,
arbitration
Arbitration is a formal method of dispute resolution involving a third party neutral who makes a binding decision. The third party neutral (the 'arbitrator', 'arbiter' or 'arbitral tribunal') renders the decision in the form of an 'arbitrati ...
judge Daniel Weinstein ruled that former WBC champion
Deontay Wilder was entitled to exercise his option for a
third fight with Fury on a date up to 15 September; this put the proposed bout between Joshua and Fury in jeopardy, as Wilder indicated that he was not prepared to stand aside to allow the British boxers to proceed. As a result of these developments, on 21 May the WBO gave Joshua's camp 48 hours to come to an agreement for the fight with Fury, or they would instead order a bout against their mandatory challenger, former undisputed
cruiserweight champion
Oleksandr Usyk
Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk (, ; born 17 January 1987) is a Ukrainian professional boxer. He has held the unified champion (boxing), unified heavyweight championship since 2021, and the ''The Ring (magazine), Ring'' magazine title since 2022 ...
. Joshua and Fury's camps could not reach an agreement, and thus on 22 May the WBO issued the instruction that Joshua would have to fight Usyk, with an agreement for the bout to be in place by 31 May. On 20 July, an official announcement was made, confirming that the fight between Joshua and Usyk would be taking place on 25 September at
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is the home of Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur in North London, replacing the club's previous ground, White Hart Lane. With a seating capacity of 62,850, it is the List of football stadium ...
. On the night, Usyk produced an upset, outboxing the champion Joshua over 12 rounds to claim a unanimous decision victory, with scores of 117–112, 116–112 and 115–113, handing Joshua the second professional loss of his career. Usyk's movement and variety in his fighting proved to be too much for Joshua, as Usyk nearly stopped the champion in the final seconds of the last round.
Post-title career
Joshua vs. Usyk II
On 29 September 2021, four days after
Oleksandr Usyk
Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk (, ; born 17 January 1987) is a Ukrainian professional boxer. He has held the unified champion (boxing), unified heavyweight championship since 2021, and the ''The Ring (magazine), Ring'' magazine title since 2022 ...
defeated Joshua to become unified world heavyweight champion, it was announced by his promoter Alexander Krassyuk that a one-sided rematch clause which had been specified in the fight contract had "already been activated in principle, from the side of Joshua." Krassyuk noted that Usyk relished the prospect of squaring off against Joshua twice: "So I remember when we discussed with Oleksandr the issue of rematch, he was delighted and said 'Wow, cool, I will beat Antokha
sic">nowiki/>sic">sic.html" ;"title="nowiki/>sic">nowiki/>sictwice.'" Regarding the venue of the rematch, Usyk made it known that he hoped it would take place in his native country of Ukraine, saying, "I would love to have the rematch at
Olimpiyskiy Stadium in Kyiv">Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex">Olimpiyskiy Stadium in Kyiv." However, Joshua's promoter,
Eddie Hearn, stated that Ukraine was a "very unlikely" venue, as he wanted to maximise income: "I think it will be international or the UK, I would think it would be in the UK." On 19 June 2022, it was officially announced that Usyk would be facing Joshua in a rematch in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on 20 August. The fight would mark the first defence of Usyk's world heavyweight titles, while it was Joshua's twelfth consecutive world heavyweight title fight as he attempted to become a three-time world heavyweight champion.
Despite Joshua's improved performance compared to his first loss to Usyk,
the latter successfully defended his belts by a
split decision
A split decision (SD) is a winning criterion in boxing, most commonly in full-contact combat sports, in which two of the three judges score one particular competitor as the winner, while the third judge scores for the other competitor.
A split de ...
with one judge scoring the fight 115–113 to Joshua, while the other two judges scoring it 115–113 and 116–112 in Usyk's favour. According to ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' statistics, Joshua landed 37 body punches compared to 15 in their first fight.
Overall, however, Usyk outperformed Joshua, landing 170 of 712 punches, compared with 124 of 492 for Joshua.
According to
CompuBox, Usyk established new records for punches landed by an Anthony Joshua opponent (170) and most punches landed on Joshua in a single round (39 punches in the 10th round).
After the announcement of the judges' scorecards, Joshua threw two of Usyk's belts out of the ring and started to walk out of the arena, but came back and once in control of the microphone gave an emotional speech, talking about his life, fighting, Ukraine, and praising Usyk. Onlookers were surprised and didn't seem to know how to act when Anthony gave his unusual speech. In the speech Anthony Joshua spoke about how hard he had had life and wasn't given the opportunities in the amateurs as Usyk was. He spoke about how people criticised him and asked why he didn't throw combinations like a much smaller Rocky Marciano. Shortly after, Joshua was recorded backstage responding to a bystander who had criticised him, yelling: "Who are you talking to? Who are you talking to? Shut your fucking mouth." In the post-fight press conference, Joshua broke down in tears.
Joshua vs. Franklin
On 6 February 2023, it was officially announced that Joshua would be returning to the ring on 1 April at
The O2 Arena
The O2 Arena, commonly known as The O2, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of The O2 entertainment district on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London, England. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the third-highest seat ...
against
Jermaine Franklin. The fight would mark the first fight as part of his exclusive five-year deal with sports streaming service
DAZN
DAZN (; pronounced "da zone") is a British Over-the-top media service, over-the-top sports Sports broadcasting, streaming and entertainment platform. Founded in 2007 as Perform Group via the merger of Premium TV Limited and Inform Group, it is o ...
. In the first pre-fight press conference on 9 February, Joshua announced his new partnership with American trainer
Derrick James, as well as being questioned by his promoter
Eddie Hearn on his motivation for fighting. Joshua answered by repeatedly stating, "Money, money, money", before Hearn had finished asking the question, before further elaborating: "I like making money. Straight up. Like, this is a prizefighting sport."
Joshua weighed in at a career-heaviest 255¼ lbs, while Franklin weighed in at 234¾ lbs, over 22 lbs lighter than his previous fight against
Dillian Whyte. On the night, Joshua had a tentative performance, initiating constant
clinches. Despite a particularly cautious start to the fight, he made use of his jab to set up power punches with his right hand, prevailing via unanimous decision, with judges' scorecards of 117–111 (twice) and 118–111 in his favour. After the final bell, the two men engaged in a light scuffle in the ring, coming close to brawling. The altercation was initiated by Joshua, who had tapped Franklin in the back of his head while Franklin had turned his back to walk away. In his post-fight interview, Joshua expressed his desire to face undefeated
WBC champion
Tyson Fury
Tyson Luke Fury (born 12 August 1988) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2008 to 2024. He held multiple world heavyweight championships, including unified titles from 2015 to 2016, the '' Ring'' magazine title twice bet ...
next, saying, "I would be 100 percent honoured to compete for the WBC championship of the world."
Joshua vs. Helenius
On 6 July 2023
Dillian Whyte vs. Anthony Joshua II, a rematch of the
12 December 2015 bout. was announced to be held at
The O2 Arena
The O2 Arena, commonly known as The O2, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of The O2 entertainment district on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London, England. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the third-highest seat ...
in London.
This was cancelled on 5 August 2023, after Whyte returned a positive drug test conducted by the voluntary anti-doping agency.
On 8 August 2023,
Robert Helenius was announced as the replacement for Whyte, with the bout taking place on the originally scheduled date of August 12, 2023.
Joshua won the bout by knockout due to a right hook in round 7.
Joshua vs. Wallin
In October 2023, reports stated that Joshua could potentially face
Deontay Wilder on 23 December on the same card alongside
Tyson Fury
Tyson Luke Fury (born 12 August 1988) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2008 to 2024. He held multiple world heavyweight championships, including unified titles from 2015 to 2016, the '' Ring'' magazine title twice bet ...
and
Oleksandr Usyk
Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk (, ; born 17 January 1987) is a Ukrainian professional boxer. He has held the unified champion (boxing), unified heavyweight championship since 2021, and the ''The Ring (magazine), Ring'' magazine title since 2022 ...
in Saudi Arabia. On 11 November however, reports then stated that Joshua and Wilder would both be fighting on 23 December but against different opponents. On 15 November, it was announced that Joshua would face
Otto Wallin on 23 December while Wilder would face
Joseph Parker
Joseph Dennis Parker, (born 9 January 1992) is a New Zealand professional boxer. He has held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) Interim championship, interim heavyweight title since 2024. Previously, he held the WBO heavyweight title from 2016 ...
as the co-feature bout. Joshua defeated Wallin by
RTD after Wallin's corner decided not to let the fighter continue after round 5.
Joshua vs. Ngannou
Joshua faced former UFC Heavyweight Champion and newly ranked #10 in the WBC
Francis Ngannou
Francis Zavier Ngannou (born 5 September 1986) is a Cameroonian and French professional mixed martial artist and professional boxer who currently competes in the Heavyweight division of the Professional Fighters League (PFL), where he is the in ...
in Saudi Arabia on 8 March 2024. He knocked down Ngannou in the first round, and won by second-round knockout.
Joshua vs. Dubois
On 26 June 2024, IBF
interim heavyweight champion
Daniel Dubois
Daniel Dubois (born 6 September 1997) is a British professional boxer. He has held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) heavyweight title since 2024. Previously, he held the World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight title ( Regular ver ...
was elevated to full IBF champion after the title was vacated by former opponent,
Oleksandr Usyk
Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk (, ; born 17 January 1987) is a Ukrainian professional boxer. He has held the unified champion (boxing), unified heavyweight championship since 2021, and the ''The Ring (magazine), Ring'' magazine title since 2022 ...
. On the same day, it was announced that Joshua would be challenging Dubois for the title on 21 September 2024 at
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...
in London, in what would be Joshua's thirteenth world title fight.
The fighters weighed in the day before their fight in front of
Nelson's Column
Nelson's Column is a monument in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, Central London, built to commemorate Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson's decisive victory at the Battle of Trafalgar over the combined French and Spanish navies, during whi ...
at
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster in Central London. It was established in the early-19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. Its name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, the Royal Navy, ...
, in London. Joshua weighed in at 252.5 lbs, almost 4 lbs heavier than Dubois' weight of 248.6 lbs. This was marginally heavier for Joshua compared to his fight against Francis Ngannou 6 months previously, while Dubois' weight was a new career-heaviest for him, 3 lbs heavier than his previous record.
Dubois, despite being the reigning IBF champion, walked to the ring first "very composed, almost seemingly too relaxed" whilst Joshua entered the ring second and "seemed tight during his ring walk", according to Joseph Santoliquito of ''The Ring''.
Joshua lost the fight by knockout in the fifth round, being dropped in the first, third, fourth and fifth rounds. The result was considered a major upset, as Dubois was the pre-betting underdog going into fight. Dubois immediately started boxing aggressively, and knocked Joshua to the canvas at the end of the first round with a huge overhand right to Joshua's chin. Joshua was able to beat the count, but seemed to be on unsteady legs as the bell signalled the end of the first round. Momentum seemed to be in Dubois' favour, and he knocked Joshua down for the second time in round 3 with a left to the chin: Joshua's gloves had touched the canvas, but the referee allowed Dubois to continue unloading punches which eventually did trigger an official knockdown. The fourth round saw Joshua hit the canvas twice more, although one of those occasions was ruled a slip. In the fifth round, Joshua seemed to find a way back into the fight when he landed a right hand which seemed to force Dubois back into a corner. However, Dubois caught Joshua on the chin with a counter right hand as Joshua was attempting to land a right uppercut of his own, which sent Joshua sprawling to the canvas again, and this time unable to beat the count. The fight was called off after 59 seconds of the fifth round, with Dubois retaining his IBF heavyweight title via fifth round knockout.
Over the five rounds, Dubois landed 79 of his 196 punches thrown with a connect rate of 40% and Joshua landed only 32 of his 117 punches thrown with a connect rate of 27%.
Public image

Joshua is recognised as one of the most marketable athletes in the world, and has lucrative endorsement deals with numerous brands, including
Under Armour,
Beats By Dre, and
Lucozade. In 2017, he was ranked as the world's most marketable athlete, ahead of basketball player
Stephen Curry
Wardell Stephen Curry II ( ; born March 14, 1988) is an American professional basketball player and point guard for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "Chef Curry", he is widely regarded as the ...
, who was ranked most marketable the previous year.
Along with his boxing ability, this has been attributed to his "
rags to riches" story, enforcing a narrative that he avoided a life of violence and crime by dedicating himself to boxing.
Joshua has spoken of his ambition to surpass
Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. (né Sinclair; born February 24, 1977) is an American boxing promoter and former professional boxer who competed between 1996 and 2017. He list of undefeated boxing world champions, retired with an undefeated record a ...
's reported career earnings of $700 million, saying in an interview with
GQ, "When I first started, the aim was to become a multi-millionaire. But now there are ordinary people, grandmas and grandads, who are worth millions just because of property prices. So the new school of thought is that I need to be a billionaire. Being a millionaire is good but you have to set your sights higher."
Joshua has also been recognised with his inclusion in the annual ''
Powerlist'' as one of the 100 most influential
Black Britons, most recently in the
2021
Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...
edition. He has a tattoo of the continent of Africa on his right shoulder, with the territory of Nigeria outlined, and says he feels a strong connection to his Nigerian roots.
Joshua's manager, Freddie Cunningham, has supported him throughout all his professional career, and is referred to as his "right hand man". Cunningham co-founded Joshua's own management company, 258MGT.
In August 2022, Joshua faced questions around the controversy of his
world-title challenge taking place in Saudi Arabia. He was also questioned about the human rights situation in the Kingdom, after the Arab authorities sentenced a 34-year-old woman for 34 years in prison over her
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
activity. However, he said that people were "loving the positive side of things" and they "don't focus on anything that's negative". Yasser al-Khayat, whose brother Mustafa was executed by Saudi authorities, also wrote a letter to Joshua and urged him to stand up for the
human rights
Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...
. He wrote to Joshua that speaking out could make a real difference, as Saudi uses the events like boxing "to distract from its oppression".
Racism controversies
Joshua made a set of racist comments and social media posts relating to race in November 2017, which led to press controversy. He called heavyweight boxer
Eddie Chambers a "disgrace to the superior black race" on Instagram. Joshua's promoter
Eddie Hearn said the message came from a fake account, but the false claim was debunked when Chambers proved that it had indeed been sent from Joshua's verified account.
Joshua later appeared to voice support for Zimbabwean dictator
Robert Mugabe on Snapchat.
Hearn subsequently stated Joshua has "got a major problem with his social media accounts" and suggested the accounts may have been hacked.
In June 2020, Joshua was accused of racism by some social media users for his speech at a Black Lives Matter protest in Watford, where he said "show them where it hurts, abstain from spending your money in their shops and economies, and invest in black-owned businesses." Press reports indicated that "some" had interpreted this as racist and amounting to a call to boycott white businesses. In response, he said the speech was not his own and that he had only read it out on behalf of a friend. He also said, "If you think I'm a racist, go f*** yourself."
Personal life
Joshua has expressed an interest in
chess
Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...
as well as reading as a way to reinforce his boxing and tactical abilities. He was a bricklayer before taking up boxing full-time.
In 2009, Joshua was put on remand in
Reading Prison for what he describes as "fighting and other crazy stuff." He was made to wear an electronic tag on his ankle when released.
In March 2011, Joshua was pulled over by the police for speeding in
Colindale, North London. He was found with eight ounces (226.8 grams) of herbal
cannabis
''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...
hidden in a sports bag in his
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...
. He was charged with possession with intent to supply a
class B drug, an offence that carries a maximum 14-year sentence. Joshua was suspended from the GB Boxing squad and was sentenced to a 12-month
community order and 100 hours' unpaid work after pleading guilty at crown court.
Joshua previously stated in 2012 that he does not support a football team, but when asked in an interview in 2017, he said that although he supports his local team
Watford F.C., his "overall favourite" team was
Real Madrid C.F.
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...
because of
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...
, as Ronaldo was a Real Madrid player at the time.
In the same interview, he also described English footballer
Troy Deeney
Troy Matthew Deeney (born 29 June 1988) is an English professional association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker. He was most recently player-manager of Forest Green Rovers F.C., Forest Green Rov ...
, who he met by chance at a local barbershop in his hometown
Watford
Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne.
Initially a smal ...
, as his "good friend".
In an interview with iFL TV in July 2014, Joshua named
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and social activist. A global cultural icon, widely known by the nickname "The Greatest", he is often regarded as the gr ...
,
Mike Tyson
Michael Gerard Tyson (born June 30, 1966) is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1985 and 2024. Nicknamed "Iron Mike" and "Kid Dynamite" in his early career, and later known as "the Baddest Man on the Planet", Tyson i ...
,
Larry Holmes,
Lennox Lewis
Lennox Claudius Lewis (born 2 September 1965) is a British-Canadian boxing commentator and former professional boxer who competed in the heavyweight division from 1989 to 2003. He was a three-time world champion, a two-time lineal champion, ...
, and
Evander Holyfield
Evander Holyfield (born October 19, 1962) is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2011. He reigned as the undisputed championship (boxing), undisputed champion in the cruiserweight (boxing), cruiserweight division ...
as his top five greatest heavyweight boxers of all-time.
Joshua fathered a son named Joseph "JJ" Joshua, with dance teacher Nicole Osbourne, in 2015.
In 2020, Joshua spoke about his positive relationship with his longtime promoter
Eddie Hearn, who has promoted him since his professional debut in 2013, saying that he "and Eddie will always have a great friendship."
In 2023, Joshua joined the investment group of the
Alpine racing team of
Formula One
Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...
.
Professional boxing record
Titles in boxing
Major world titles
*
WBA (Super) heavyweight champion (200+ lbs) (2×)
*
IBF heavyweight champion (200+ lbs) (2×)
*
WBO heavyweight champion (200+ lbs) (2×)
Minor world titles
*
IBO heavyweight champion (200+ lbs) (2×)
Regional/International titles
*
WBC International
heavyweight
Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling.
Boxing Professional
Male boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 2 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation an ...
champion (200+ lbs)
*
British heavyweight champion (200+ lbs)
*
Commonwealth heavyweight champion (200+ lbs)
Honorary titles
*
WBA ''Man of Triumph'' Gold champion
*
WBO Super Champion
Viewership
Pay-per-view bouts
International
See also
*
List of world heavyweight boxing champions
At boxing's beginning, the heavyweight division had no weight limit, and historically the weight class has gone with vague or no definition. During the 19th century many heavyweights were 170 pounds (12 st 2 lb, 77 kg) or less, tho ...
*
List of WBA world champions
This is a list of WBA world champions, showing every world champion certified by the World Boxing Association (WBA). The list also includes champions certified by the National Boxing Association (NBA), the predecessor to the WBA.
Boxers who won t ...
*
List of IBF world champions
This is a list of IBF world champions, showing every world champion recognized by the International Boxing Federation (IBF). The IBF is one of the four major governing bodies in professional boxing, and has awarded world champions in 17 different ...
*
List of WBO world champions
This is a list of WBO world champions, showing every world champion certified by the World Boxing Organization (WBO). The WBO is one of the four major governing bodies in professional boxing, and has awarded world championships in 17 different we ...
*
List of IBO world champions
*
List of British heavyweight boxing champions
List of British heavyweight boxing champions is a table showing the Boxing, boxers who have won the British heavyweight title, which has been sanctioned by the National Sporting Club since 1891, and the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBoC) sin ...
*
List of Commonwealth Boxing Council champions
List of Commonwealth Boxing Council champions is a table showing the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth champions certificated by the Commonwealth Boxing Council (CBC). The CBC is also affiliated with the World Boxing Council, WBC.
v — Cham ...
*
List of Olympic medalists in boxing
Current program Men's Flyweight
*1904: up to 105 lb (47.6 kg)
*1920–1936: up to 112 lb (50.8 kg)
*1948–1964: up to 51 kg
*1968–2008: 48–51 kg
*2012–2020: 49–52 kg
*2024–present: –51 kg
;Note ...
*
Boxing at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Notes
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joshua, Anthony
1989 births
AIBA World Boxing Championships medalists
Black British sportsmen
21st-century Black British people
Boxers at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Boxers from London
British Boxing Board of Control champions
Commonwealth Boxing Council champions
England Boxing champions
English male boxers
English people of Irish descent
English people of Nigerian descent
English people of Yoruba descent
English Olympic competitors
International Boxing Federation champions
International Boxing Organization champions
Living people
Mayflower School alumni
Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Members of the Order of the British Empire
Olympic boxers for Great Britain
Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain
Olympic medalists in boxing
Sportspeople from Watford
Super-heavyweight boxers
World Boxing Association champions
World Boxing Organization champions
World heavyweight boxing champions
Yoruba sportspeople
21st-century English sportsmen