Boxing Superstar ANTHONY Joshua is far from complete but he’s miles ahead of legends like Mike Tyson and George Foreman at this stage of his career. He remained unbeaten in 22 professional fights and on Sunday he stopped a man who had never been stopped before.
And yet still the question lingers: Just how good is he?
The Brit’s rise through the boxing ranks is one of the few that merits the label meteoric.
Having only taken up boxing a decade ago, the 28-year-old Joshua, from Watford, north of London, went on to win Olympic super-heavyweight gold on home soil at the 2012 Games before turning professional.
His brutal seventh-round stoppage of Russia’s Alexander Povetkin in front of an estimated 80,000 crowd at London’s Wembley Stadium was his 21st knockout in 22 professional contests and saw Joshua retain the International Boxing Federation, World Boxing Association, World Boxing Organisation and International Boxing Organisation belts.
It was arguably Joshua’s most impressive performance since a courageous and skilled 11th-round stoppage of former champion Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley last year.
And it was a reminder too of Joshua’s remarkably rapid rise. George Foreman, Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, and Klitschko were all well-regarded heavyweight champions yet, unlike Joshua, none held the title after so few fights, never mind with six defenses behind them.
SOURCES: News.com, Bella Naija
