Anthony Joshua

Two-time world heavyweight champion and Olympic gold medallist who unified the heavyweight titles in 2019.

Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua was born in Watford in 1989, the son of Nigerian immigrants, and became Britain's most commercially successful boxer, winning two-time unified heavyweight champion status and selling out stadiums of 90,000 people at the peak of his popularity. He took up boxing at 18 — discovering the sport after a troubled youth — and won Olympic super-heavyweight gold at London 2012 in front of a home crowd at the ExCeL Arena. His rise through the professional ranks was rapid: he won the IBF heavyweight title at the O2 Arena in 2016 by stopping Charles Martin in two rounds. He unified three heavyweight titles — IBF, WBA and WBO — when he stopped Wladimir Klitschko in an extraordinary eleven-round fight at Wembley Stadium in April 2017 in front of 90,000 people, being knocked down twice himself before stopping Klitschko in the eleventh. A shock defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr. in New York in 2019 — the first defeat of his professional career — was followed by a clinical points victory in the rematch in Saudi Arabia. He lost his titles to Oleksandr Usyk in 2021 and the rematch in 2022. He won 26 of 29 professional fights. His combination of physical gifts — size, speed and punching power — with amateur fundamentals made him one of the most complete boxers of his generation.

Orthodox stance, powerful jab, strong body puncher with good footwork

One of Britain's most successful heavyweight boxers, bringing boxing back to mainstream popularity

• IBF/WBA/WBO Heavyweight Champion 2x
• Olympic Gold (London 2012)
• Commonwealth Games Gold (2014)