The undisputed Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua OBE is a British professional boxer. He is a two-time former unified world heavyweight champion, having held the WBA, IBF, WBO, and IBO titles twice between 2016 and 2021.
At a regional level, he held the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles from 2015 to 2016.
A late starter in the sport, Joshua 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 Derek Chisora.
Joshua won the 2009 and 2010 Haringey Box Cup. Joshua also 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 Championships after defeating Amin Isa. At the 2011 European Championships in June, he beat the German Eric Brechlin 23:16 and the Irishman Cathal McMonagle 22:10 but was stopped by the 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. During the 2011 World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, Joshua marked his sudden arrival on the world scene when he beat Italian reigning world and Olympic champion Roberto Cammarelle and went on to stop Erik Pfeifer of Germany in the semis before losing by a single point to a local boxer, Magomedrasul Majidov winning a silver medal.
En route to the final, Joshua secured his place at the 2012 Olympic Games in the super-heavyweight division as a relative newcomer to the elite level of the sport.
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