Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua, OBE, is the British professional boxer popularly known as Anthony Joshua or AJ. Anthony Joshua was born on 15th October 1989 in England so he will be 31 years on his 2020 birthday. Anthony Joshua took up boxing in 2010 but made his professional boxing debut for Britain in 2013. He has also won many many professional boxing titles.
Before we go into details about his fights and career wins, we will first examine the early life of Joshua. However before we dive into the details about Anthony Joshua biography, let us look at these outline 10 facts about AJ that are worth knowing.
10 facts about Anthony Joshua
- Anthony Joshua’s full name is Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua and the OBE in his name means the British order of chivalry, which was bestowed on by the British Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II for his service to the empire. His parents are Ogun State Nigeria.
- He started boxing in 2007 at the age of 18 at the suggestion of his cousin and Anthony Joshua current height is a staggering 6 ft 6 (198 cm).
- Anthony Joshua once wanted to represent Nigeria in the 2008 Olympics but got rejected because he did not show up in camp for trial.
- Anthony Joshua’s won his first professional career by a technical knockout in the first round against Emanuele Leo.
- Anthony Joshua has lost only one fight out of 24 in his professional career. He lost to Mexican Andy Ruiz Jr. during their first fight at Madison Square, New York. AJ won their rematch in Saudi Arabia in December 2019.
- AJ lost twice during his amateur boxing career. In 2011, he lost to Magomedrasul Medzhidov in Baku, Azerbaijan, by 22-21 and also in 2011 to Mihai Nistor in Romania
- Only two fighters have lasted up to the 12th round in the ring against AJ; Andy Ruiz Jr. and Joseph Parker. The above fighters are also the only ones that Joshua has defeated without a knockout.
- Anthony Joshua is worth $55 million as of 2019, his salary earning is $45 million and his endorsements are worth $10 million.
- AJ was detained in jail in 2009 for violence and fighting and in 2011 pleaded guilty to possession with intent to sell herbal cannabis. he got off with got a 12-month community order and 100 unpaid community service.
- Joshua has a son named Joseph and he says he doesn’t want him to become a professional boxer.
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Anthony Joshua Biography: early life
Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua was born on 15th October 1989 in Watford, England. Anthony’s parents are Yeta and Robert Joshua. Both his father and mother are Nigerians but his father, Robert Joshua, also is of Irish heritage.
Anthony Joshua’s parents are Yoruba, which makes him a Yoruba man. However, his family was among those considered to be elites because of their financial status. Initially, Joshua grew up in Nigeria although he was born abroad. He attended Mayflower School in Ikenne, Ogun State. AJ was a boarding student at the revered college that was founded by Dr Tai Solarin, a Nigerian educator, humanist and civil rights pioneer.
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After his early days in Nigeria, Anthony Joshua moved to the U.K. after his parents divorced. Moving in the middle of Year Seven, he immediately enrolled in Kings Langley Secondary School to continue with his compulsory schooling.
He spent his teenage years at the Meriden Estate in Garston, Hertfordshire. Many who knew him back then referred to him as Femi, a common short form of his name Oluwafemi (the same way Joseph can be shortened to Joe). Right from high school, Anthony Joshua had always shown his ability in sports and back then he was one of the best at his school’s football and athletics team. He had even broken the 100m race record in Year Nine, finishing in 11.6 seconds.
Anthony Joshua biography: amateur boxing career
Joshua started boxing in 2007 at the age of 18 at the suggestion of his cousin, Ben Ileyemi. Ben was also a professional boxer and is thought to have encouraged Joshua to join him on the path. Compared to most, 18 is later than the age most professional boxers started training for the sport. However, Anthony quickly proved to be a natural at boxing and made rapid progress.
He joined the club Finchley ABC in Barnet, North London, a club he seems to be proud of and once tweeted:
“Always representing. Finchley ABC”.
AJ sometimes still returns to the club’s gym to train. It is also noteworthy that another professional heavyweight boxer, Dereck Chisora, made it out of Finchley ABC’s stables.
Starting from the bottom and fighting his way to the top like a germinating tree, Anthony Joshua won his first competitive amateur boxing title at the 2009 Haringey Box Cup. He also won the title in 2010. The Haringey Box Cup is an international amateur boxing tournament that features 500 male and female competitors over three days.
In 2010, after fighting his 18th bout, Joshua won the ABA Championships in 2010. The ABA Championships is now called the England Boxing National Amateur Championships, the premier boxing tournament hosted annually by England Boxing. At the time, AJ turned down a £50,000 offer to turn professional in 2010. He would later say of his decision:
“Turning down that £50,000 was easy. I didn’t take up the sport for money, I want to win medals.”
Already, he was already enrolled as part of the GB (Great Britain) Boxing team and also became a known British amateur champion by defeating Amin Isa at the GB Amateur Boxing Championships. Amin Isa was, at the time, a super-heavyweight fighter.
The next year, in 2011, Anthony Joshua defended his ABA Championships champion title. It is worth noting that within just four years of taking up boxing, AJ was already known as a force to be reckoned with. And like a storm, he has kept blowing away his opponents.
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Entering the 2011 European Amateur Boxing Championships in June, Anthony knocked out Eric Berechlin and Cathal McMongale. However, Mihai Nistor put an end to his winning streak and knocked him out of the competition. It was a major highlight of Mihai’s career as Joshua was already famous at the time.
But Anthony was just beginning mesmerising the world. At the 2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships held in Baku, Azerbaijan, AJ went on another dizzying bout journey.
The competition ran from 22nd September 2011 to 10th October 2011, and Anthony showed his quality by beating tournament favourite, Roberto Cammarelle. Roberto had been the reigning champion and also an Olympic champion. Anthony then went on to beat Erik Pfeifer at the semis and looked destined for the Gold medal. However, Magomedrasul Majidov, fighting in his city of birth, beat him at the final by a single point.
The Boxing Writers Club of Great Britain named Anthony Joshua the Amateur Boxer of the Year on 11th October 2011.
Anthony Joshua Olympic Games 2012 controversies
Anthony Joshua participated in the Olympic Games for the first time in 2012 in the 91 kg+ division representing Great Britain. Joshua did not have it easy in the draw of the last 16 as he had to face many tough opponents. Also, his wins during the tournament were tainted by controversy.
For example, during Anthony Joshua fight with Erislandy Savon, he has announced the winner after the third round with many saying Erislandy had deserved to win. Also when he had a rematch against Roberto Cammarelle in the final, many adjudged that Roberto had beaten AJ in the final. The result was announced as a tie at 18:18 and then, Joshua was named a winner by a count-back.
Therefore, in 2012 Joshua won the Gold Medal at the Olympic Games held in London. This win and his other achievements got him appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to boxing in the 2013 New Year Honours Honours.
Anthony Joshua professional boxing career
When he felt it was the right time, Anthony Joshua turned to professional on 11th July 2013 under the promotional banner of Matchroom Sport. Matchroom Sport is a sport event promotions company led by the founder and owner, English entrepreneur Barry Hearn and his son, Eddie Hearn.
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In his first professional boxing debut, Anthony Joshua faced Emanuele Leo at an event scheduled at the O2 Arena in London on 5th October 2013. It took Joshua only one round to beat his opponent by a technical knockout (TKO). His second professional boxing match was against Paul Butlin, an English heavyweight at an event that also on the 26th of the same month of October 2016. The referee had to end the match in the second round as it appeared Paul was well beaten and it was pointless to let the fight continue, AJ was, again, declared the winner by TKO.
His third and fourth professional bouts against Croatian Hrvoje Kisicek and Dorian Darch also ended in a knockout victory for him as well. Joshua also beat Hector Alfredo Avila in Glasgow in March 2014 with a first-round knockout.
By 13th September 2014, AJ already had eight victories out of eight professional fights with the eighth coming against German heavyweight Konstantin Airich at a match that took place at the Manchester Arena. Appearing as the main event of a Matchroom Sport card in October, Joshua defeated former WBC International champion Denis Bakhtov and claimed the title. At 24, Anthony Joshua won his 10th boxing match against Michael Sprott in November 2014 ensuring he ended 2014 on a high note.
By the start of 2015, the British boxer had won all 10 of his first professional fights by stoppage and had spent a total of 36 minutes and 36 seconds fighting in the ring.
In January 2015, he had a match slated for the 31st against Kevin Johnson. However, he sustained a back injury in training and the match was cancelled. Before facing the American in May 2015, Joshua fought and beat both Jason Gavern in Newcastle and Raphael Zumbano Love in Birmingham by knockouts.
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Finally, Anthony Joshua’s winning streak came to an end on 30th May 2015, AJ faced Kevin Johnson who at the time had won 29 fights (14 by KOs). Johnson was also popular for taking out champions like Vitali Klitschko, Tyson Fury and Dereck Chisora the whole length of 12 rounds. Joshua subjected Johnson to the first knockout defeat of his career and the American boxer announced his retirement the next day. He, however, returned to the ring in March 2017.
To claim the Common Wealth heavyweight title, Joshua had to face Gary Cornish. The Scottish boxer had fought 21 times at the time and had won 12 by knockout and had also been undefeated at the time. However, AJ changed that narrative. At the O2 Arena in London, Anthony Joshua beat Cornish who was then the IBO International champion. The match lasted just about 90 seconds of the first round. However, during his post-match talk, Joshua showed respect to Cornish and complimented his style.
Anthony Joshua faced Dillian Whyte in a grudge match as both fighters had met during their amateur days when Whyte had taken AJ to the cleaners. Now, with Whyte’s unbeaten record on the line as well as the British heavyweight title awaiting the winner, the fight went down at Sky Box Office. The fight ended in the seventh round as Joshua knocked out his opponent. However, it was far from a one-sided contest.
Reports then circulated that AJ has taken home £3 million by signing another 5-year deal to keep representing Matchroom as well as a share of the Pay-per-view television revenue.
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En-route to claiming the IBF heavyweight title, Joshua had to challenge Charles Martin on 9th April 2016 at the O2 Arena. Martin was the champion and title defender at the time, having 22 wins (21 by KOs) and only one loss. However, AJ quickly increased his number of losses by knocking him down in the second round and stealing the title he had just won 85 days earlier.
Charles Martin is thus the shortest reigning IBF heavyweight champion since 1987 (behind only Tony Tucker). He was also criticised for quitting the match and a general lackluster display that annoyed fans.
Joshua vs Breazeale
Joshua’s first title defence was against Dominic Breazeale who had won all his 17 bouts (15 by KOs). Breazeale was chosen from a list of top 15 IBF fighters.
On the O2 Arena stage again, AJ retained his title but had to wait until the seventh round to knockout a determined Dominic Breazeale on 25 June 2016. After a dominant performance, Joshua successfully defended his IBF heavyweight title with a seventh-round knockout win. It was a largely watched fight as AJ was now becoming more famous even beyond the boxing ranks.
A week later, the fighter announced a deal with U.S. broadcaster Showtime and the fight got screened live in the United States by Showtime operating as Joshua’s exclusive U.S. partner.
Joshua vs Molina
Anthony Joshua’s second bout to defend his IBF title was scheduled for 26th November 2016. If things had gone according to plan, he would have been facing either Wladimir Klitschko, Kubrat Pulev or Joseph Parker, then top IBF contenders.
However, Klitschko had gotten injured and a lot of other conditions made Joshua face Eric Molina next; Molina at that time had secured 19 KO wins in his 28 fights. This Anthony Joshua fight against Molina was televised in the United States live by Showtime.
The referee had to end the match in the third round after Molina was literally floored again and was barely surviving. This fight reached 390,000 views on Showtime and an average viewing of 368,000. Notably, in May 2018, the UK Anti-Doping agency banned Molina for two years from fighting in the UK because he had tested positive for dexamethasone, a corticosteroid, after the fight.
Unified heavyweight champion
Joshua vs Klitschko
Following an agreement among all parties, the WBA fixed a unification battle between Joshua and Klitschko with the winner to claim the WBA (Super) title, previously under the care of Tyson Fury. It was Joshua’s biggest fight since entering the ring as a trainee boxer.
This is because as early as January 2017, Eddie Hearn announced that over 80,000 tickets have already been sold, outselling Carl Froch vs. George Groves II. The promoter had to even request for 5,000 more tickets to be made available. It was reported that Joshua would, then 27, was set to earn £15 million from the fight. Klitschko at the time was 41 and weighed 10 pounds lesser than his opponent at the time of the fight.
90,000 spectators witnessed Joshua’s win in the brutal fight. They knocked each other down but in the 11th round, AJ punished his older opponent and had him without an escape route against the ropes until the referee stopped the match and named him the winner.
Joshua led on two judges scorecards 96–93 and 95–93, while the third judge said Klitschko was ahead 95–93. After the fight, Joshua challenged Fury in the post-match interview he said:
“Tyson Fury, where you at, baby? Come on — that’s what they want to see. I just want to fight everyone. I’m really enjoying this right now.”
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He also added that he had no qualms about fighting Klitschko again, saying:
“I don’t mind fighting him again if he wants the rematch. Big respect to Wladimir for challenging the young lions of the division. It’s up to him, I don’t mind. As long as Rob thinks it’s good I’m good to go.”
659,000 had seen the fight on Showtime in the United States where it was live-broadcasted in the USA. A statistics company, Nielsen Media Research said that the fight peaked at about 687,000 viewers during rounds five and six. There was also a delayed tape-replay on HBO that got 738,000 viewers and reached a peak of 890,000.
A German TV channel, RTL announced that an average of 10.43 million viewers saw the fight. This is more than the 8.91 million that tuned in to watch Klitschko and Tyson Fury fight in 2015.
A rematch was fixed for 2nd December 2017 and by 2nd August, Joshua said he would need a three-month training camp from 22nd August to be able to fight by 11th November. But by 3rd August 2017, Klitschko officially announced his retirement from boxing on his website and social media channels. This is why another Joshua v Klitschko never happened.
Joshua vs Takam
After Klitschko’s retirement announcement, the IBF immediately pitted Joshua against 36-year-old Kubrat Pulev. Both parties were to reach an agreement by 3rd September 2017. Then the WBA also fixed Joshua up for a mandatory defence showdown against Luis Ortiz stating that the deal should be ready within 30 days. Eddie Hearn revealed that after fighting Pulev then Ortiz, the team would work on a unification fight against Deontay Wilder.
Joshua and Pulev were to fight in Las Vegas on 28th October 2017 but the venue was later changed to the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
Announcing the fight, Hearn said on 5th September 2017:
“I’m delighted that we will be in Cardiff at the magnificent Principality Stadium for the next step of the AJ journey. Nearly 80,000 will gather on Oct. 28 to create another unforgettable night of boxing. Anthony will meet his mandatory challenger, [IBF] No. 1-ranked Kubrat Pulev, and the card will be stacked with world championship action, domestic title fights and the very best young stars in the game. Get ready for the next episode from the biggest star in world boxing.”
By 12th September 70,000 tickets had been allegedly sold, setting records as both the fastest-selling boxing ticket and the largest boxing attendance in an indoor bout (previously held by Muhammad Ali vs. Leon Spinks’ grudge match).
By this time, AJ’s deal with Showtime had expired. However, since they retained the right to keep the deal if they can outbid any other agency, they matched HBO’s $1.6 million bid to show the match.
But on 16th October Pulev’s injury rumours circulated and when it turned out to be true, Carlos Takam, IBFs number 3 fighter stepped in with just 12 days to go. At the time, Takam had only one loss with 35 wins, 27 of which were KOs. Joshua weighed an official career-heavy 254 pounds, while Takam came in at 235 pounds.
In front of about 80,000 fans in attendance, Joshua inflicted on Takam his second professional loss to retain his title. However, the match was scarred by what many see as a premature match stoppage. Fans even booed the referee after the decision. It was one entertaining match that saw both boxers bleed a lot, AJ said when it ended:
“It was a good fight until the ref stopped it, I have the utmost respect for Takam. I have no interest [in] what’s going on with the officials. My job is the opponent. I don’t have control over the ref’s decision.”
Takam also believed the fight was stopped too early and said he would like to have a rematch.
Joshua vs Parker
For a unification fight between Parker and Joshua, match promoter Eddie Hearn offered an 80-20 split in favour of Joshua. Higgins, representing Joseph Parker said the offer would need to be more reasonable, however. Parker later confirmed that he was willing to drop to 35% of the net profit.
In November 2017, Hearn announced that the fight would be confirmed soon listing Camp Nou as a potential venue. By 8th January 2018, the Anthony Joshua fight against Joseph Parker was fixed for the Principality Stadium in Cardiff and the date was confirmed for 31st March. Showtime also announced televising the fight live in the United States.
Anthony Joshua was to earn a whopping £18 million while Parker would earn £8 million, both earning the highest ever in their career yet.
Anthony Joshua weight had dropped to 112.9 kilograms when he went against Parker who had also shed weight as well.
The match turned out to be worth it with Joshua having to go to the 12th round for the first time in his boxing career. It was also the first time he won by unanimous decision after a streak of 20 knockout wins. He thus claimed the WBO title, as well as retained his WBA, IBF and IBO championship belts.
