ANTHONY OLUWAFEMI OLASENI JOSHUA, MBE ...THE JOURNEY SO FAR.

Joshua was born October 19, 1989 in Watford to a Nigerian mother and a father of Nigerian and Irish descent .He grew up for much of his early years in Nigeria and returned to the UK halfway
through Year Seven to join Kings Langley Secondary School. Growing up on the Meriden Estate in Garston, Hertfordshire, Joshua was called ‘Femi’ by his friends and former teachers, due to his middle name ‘Oluwafemi’.While in school, he excelled at football and athletics and broke the Year Nine 100m record with a time of 11.6 second. Joshua only began boxing in 2007, aged 18, when his cousin, Ben Ileyemi, suggested he take it up. They both made their professional debut together in 2013.

BOXING CAREER

Joshua won the 2009 and 2010 Haringey Box Cup. He 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 said. 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 Amateur Boxing Championships after defeating Amin Isa. In June 2011 at the 2011 European Amateur Boxing Championships he beat Eric Berechlin and Cathal McMonagle but was stopped by aggressive 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.

During the 2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, Joshua marked his sudden arrival on the world scene when he beat Italian reigning World & Olympic champion Roberto Cammarelle, and went on to stop Erik Pfeifer of Germany in the semis before losing by a single point to local boxer, Magomedrasul Majidov winning a silver medal. En route to the final, Joshua secured his place at the 2012 Olympic Games in the 91 kg+ division as a relative new-comer to the elite level of the sport.

Joshua went into the 2012 London Olympics as a novice on the international scene, despite being a world silver medallist. En route to the final, he defeated Cuban Erslandy Saron,ranked numer 4 in the world and Beijing 2008 silver medallist, ZhangZhilei before beating Ivan Dychko of Kaakstan in semi final. He defeated Italian boxer,Roberto Cammarelle ,32years old, reigning Olympic champion and twice world champion to claim gold medal.He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to boxing

On July 11, 2013 it was confirmed that Joshua had turned professional under the Matchroom Sport promotional banner. Joshua made his professional debut on 5 October 2013 at the O2 Arena in London in the Main-Event of a card featuring Scott Quigg’s successful WBA super-bantamweight title defence against Yoandris Salinas, beating Italian Emanuelue Leo by a TKO in the first round.On September 12, 2015, Joshua won the vacant Commonwealth Heavyweight title by stopping Gary Cornish in the first round at the O2 Arena. Cornish had been unbeaten in his previous 21 fights.

 Joshua fought Dillian Whyte for the vacant British Heavyweight title on December 12, 2015, whilst also defending his Commonwealth Heavyweight title for the first time. The two had previously fought within the amateur rankings in 2009 where Whyte had won. After surviving the first scare of his professional career in the second round, Joshua won the fight after initially shaking Whyte with a right hook to the temple and eventually finishing with a devastating uppercut for the knockout in the seventh round, making it the furthest distance either fighter has gone in a professional fight to date. It is said that Joshua earned £3million from this fight.

On April 9, 2016, Joshua defeated Charles Martin to win the IBF World Heavyweight title, his first professional world title, with a knockout in the 2nd round. He defends his title by knocking out Dominic Breazeale in the 7th round on 25^th June, 2016, to increase his knockout to 17 from 17 bouts.  Joshua is ranked the world's sixth best heavyweight boxer by The Rings magazine, and currently boasts a 100% knockout ratio.

Joshua secret weapon of a food is pounded yam, stew, okra and some meat. It keeps you strong. It’s a dense form of mash potato, if you eat that enough and you train then it’s a big carbohydrate load. His greatest fear is any ‘creepy crawlies’ as he called them especially spiders.