Anthony Joshua
Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua OBE (born 15 October 1989) is a British professional boxer. He is currently a unified heavyweight world champion, and holds three of the four major world championships in the sport: the IBF title since 2016, the WBA (Super) title since 2017, and the WBO title since March 2018. He has also held the IBO title since 2017, and at regional level he held the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles from 2014 to 2016.
Joshua represented England at the 2011 World Championships as an amateur in the super-heavyweight division, winning a silver medal; he also represented Great Britain 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, Joshua's victorious fight against Wladimir Klitschko was named Fight of the Year by The Ring and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Joshua is the second British boxer, after James DeGale, to win both a gold medal at the Olympics and a world title by a major professional sanctioning body, as well as being the first British heavyweight to do so.
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As of February 2018, Joshua is ranked as the world's best active heavyweight by The Ring, the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and BoxRec. Known for having exceptional punching power, he has finished all but one of his fights to date by knockout.
Early life Joshua was born in Watford, Hertfordshire, to Nigerian parents, Yeta, and Robert Joshua. Specifically, Joshua is of Yoruba ethnicity. Joshua also has Irish ancestry through his father's side. His cousin, Ben Lleyemi, is also a professional boxer. The pair made their professional debuts together in 2013.
Joshua grew up for some of his early years in Nigeria as a boarding school student. Following his parents' divorce at age 12, he returned to the UK halfway through Year Seven to join Kings Langley Secondary School. Growing up on the Meriden Estate in Garston, Hertfordshire, Joshua was called "Femi" by his friends and former teachers, due to his middle name, Oluwafemi. He excelled at football and athletics and broke the Year Nine 100m record with a time of 11.6 seconds.
Amateur career A late starter in the sport, Joshua only 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 Dereck Chisora. Joshua won the 2009 and 2010 Haringey Box Cup. Joshua 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 Amateur Boxing Championships after defeating Amin Isa. In June 2011 at the 2011 European Amateur Boxing Championships he beat Eric Berechlin and Cathal McMonagle but was stopped by aggressive 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.
