Born in Watford, Hertfordshire on October 15, 1989, Anthony ‘AJ’ Joshua did not start boxing until 2007, but wasted little time in rising through the ranks. As an amateur, he reached the final of the super heavyweight division at the 2011 AIBA World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, eventually losing out 21-22 to local rival Mahammadrasul Majidov. He headed to the 2012 London Olympics with little experience at world-class level, but nonetheless managed to defeat Italian Roberto Cammarelle, whom he had beaten on their previous meeting at the World Championships, on countback in the gold medal bout, thereby taking his overall amateur record to 38-3-0.
Joshua made a successful professional debut on October 5, 2013, when beating another Italian, Emanuele Leo, by technical knockout after 2:47 of the first of six rounds at the O2 Arena in Greenwich, London. Eight fights later, on October 11, 2014, at the same venue, he fought experienced Russian Denis Bakhtov for the vacant WBC international heavyweight title and put up an impressive display, winning by technical knockout early in the second round.
After winning his first professional title, Joshua continued his unbeaten run and, April 9, 2016, dethroned IBF world heavyweight champion Charles Martin, of the United States, less than three months into his reign, again at the O2 Arena. Martin was criticised for failing to beat the count after being knocked down, for the second time, after 1:32 of the second round, but Joshua nonetheless became the first English heavyweight to win an Olympic gold medal and a major world title.
Following his first world title, promoter Eddie Hearn said of Joshua, ‘His aspiration is to unify all of the belts and he will.’ He did, too, courtesy of an eleventh round technical knockout of Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley Stadium on April 29, 2017 and, again, when winning a rematch with American Andy Ruiz, by unanimous decision, at the Diriyah Arena in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia on July 12, 2019. Joshua subsequently lost all four titles (IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO) to hitherto unbeaten Ukranian Oleksandr Usyk, by unanimous decision, at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on September 25, 2019.
