Anthony Joshua's Biography
Who is Anthony Joshua?
Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua was born to Nigerian parents in Watford, England on 15 October 1989.As a teenager he showed general sporting prowess. He was skilled at football and ran the 100 metres in 11 seconds when he was 15.
Before boxing, Anthony Joshua got into brick-laying. However, soon after moving to London, he turned towards boxing, after his cousin took him to the Finchley Amateur Boxing Club.
In 2007 he started boxing and enjoyed a meteoric rise.
In 2009 he won the Haringey Box Cup and the following year he became Senior ABAE Champion at 91kg+ in his 18th bout.
In 2011, Anthony Joshua won ABA and GB titles; and won silver at the World Championships, having defeated the Olympic and two-time World champion Roberto Cammarelle of Italy in the quarter finals.
He ended up losing the final by just one point to Azerbaijan's Magomedrasul Majidov. Many objective observers thought Joshua had been hard done by.
2011 had seen Joshua progress from ranking 46th in the world to end up number 3 in the official AIBA World rankings, however, it had also seen a blip in his personal life when he was convicted for possessing cannabis with intent to supply in March 2011.
" ... I brought shame on myself and my family.
"It was really bad news for a lot of people who wanted to see me progress and I could see the pain it was putting my mum through. So I said to myself, 'This has got to stop. I'm a proud man and to be a Joshua is a privilege.'"
In 2012, at the London Olympics, Anthony Joshua won the super-heavyweight gold medal on countback after the scores finished 18-18.
In 2013, he was awarded the MBE.
The 6ft 6in boxer turned professional in July 2013 and his first pro fight was on 5 October 2013 at the O2 Arena in London when he stopped Emanuele Leo in the first round.
On 12 September 2015, Anthony Joshua won the Commonwealth heavyweight title in only his 14th professional fight with a first-round knockout of Gary Cornish.
Joshua needed only two rounds to beat Charles Martin to take the IBF world heavyweight title at London's O2 Arena on 9 April 2016.
On 26 June 2016, Anthony Joshua knocked out Dominic Breazeale in the 7th round to retain his IBF world heavyweight title.
In November 2016, the WBA revealed that Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko had been cleared to fight for the WBA heavyweight title, which had been vacated by Tyson Fury.
On 10 December 2016, Anthony Joshua knocked out Eric Molina in the third round to successfully defend his IBF heavyweight title.
On 29 April 2017, Anthony Joshua stopped Wladimir Klitschko in the 11th Round to add the WBA world heavyweight title to his IBF crown.
At the time he was still living in a flat with his mother Yeta Odusanya.
Ten days prior to the fight, BBC One was transmitting the documentary Anthony Joshua: The Fight of My Life.
He was in the limelight in the autumn of 2017 as ITV revealed that they were broadcasting Bear's Mission with Anthony Joshua with Bear Grylls.
On 28 October 2017 Anthony Joshua successfully defended his world title belts, stopping Carlos Takam in the 10th round.
He has a son with dance teacher Nicole Osbourne.
On 1 April 2018, Anthony Joshua unified the WBA, IBF and WBO world heavyweight titles when he gained a unanimous points win over Joseph Parker.
In June 2018, he was awarded the OBE.
On 22 September 2018, Anthony Joshua stopped Alexander Povetkin in the seventh round to retain his world heavyweight titles at Wembley Stadium.
In February 2019, it was announced that Joshua would have his first fight in the USA, when he would be defending his IBF, WBA and WBO world heavyweight titles against Jarrell Miller on 1 June at Madison Square Garden.
However, the New York State Athletic Commission refused Jarrell Miller a licence to fight as he returned an "adverse finding" in a drug-testing sample.
Miller appealed the decision.
Instead, Joshua fought Andy Ruiz Jr and suffered a shock defeat. The first loss of his professional career.
Ruiz floored Joshua four times before the fight was stopped in the seventh-round.
However on 7 December 2019, Joshua won the rematch against Ruiz with a unanimous points victory.
In December 2020, Anthony Joshua knocked out Kubrat Pulev.
In September 2021, Anthony Joshua lost his WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight belts to Oleksandr Usyk.
In August 2022, he was defeated in the re-match on a split decision.
In February 2023, it was announced that Anthony Joshua would fight Jermaine Franklin on 1 April at the O2 Arena. Joshua ended up winning on an unanimous points decision.
In August 2023, Joshua had been scheduled to fight Dillian Whyte, but the latter failed a drugs test and was replaced by Robert Helenius. AJ knocked out Helenius in the seventh round.
In November 2023, the BBC broadcast a revealing interview with Anthony Joshua by Louis Theroux.
In December 2023. Anthony Joshua beat Otto Wallin, after the latter's corner pulled him put of the fight at the end of the fifth round.
In March 2024, AJ knocked out Francis Ngannou in the second round.
In June 2024, on Desert Island Discs, Joshua spoke about how he got into trouble with the police for fighting when he was a teenager and became homeless aged 17 and how boxing came into his life at the right time.
In September 2024, AJ was scheduled to box IBF belt-holder Daniel Dubois, in front of a post-war British record 96,000 attendance at Wembley Stadium, after a four-fight winning streak including knocking out Francis Ngannou. However, Joshua lost in five rounds.
Trivia
His height is 6 feet 5 inches.
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