A look into Anthony Joshua’s career to date
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Anthony Joshua has stood at the front of British heavyweight boxing for more than a decade, and bookmakers have rarely been short of an opinion on him. He is priced as a live threat in almost any matchup, which is part of why the Joshua odds shift as sharply as they do whenever a fight is announced. The record behind that interest is an unusual one: an Olympic gold medal, two spells as a unified world champion, and four defeats he has come back from.
A late start at Finchley ABC
Joshua was born in Watford on 15 October 1989 and did not put on a glove until 2007, when he was 18. His cousin, Ben Ileyemi, was already training at Finchley ABC in north London and took him along. Most fighters who reach that level have 50 or more amateur bouts behind them by that age. Joshua had none, and he still finished his unpaid career at 40-3.
Olympic gold in London
He won the ABA Championships in 2010 and 2011, then took silver at the 2011 World Championships in Baku, beaten 22-21 by Magomedrasul Majidov. London 2012 put him in the super-heavyweight final against Roberto Cammarelle, the defending Olympic champion. The bout finished 18-18 and Joshua was given gold on countback, five years after his first session in a gym.
A world title in 16 fights
He turned professional on 5 October 2013 and stopped Emanuele Leo inside a round at the O2 Arena. Another 14 stoppages followed, among them the British title against Dillian Whyte in December 2015, a fight Joshua ended in the seventh after absorbing the hardest punches he had taken to that point. On 9 April 2016, in his 16th bout, he knocked out Charles Martin in the second round for the IBF belt.
Klitschko, Wembley and the biggest wins
The biggest night came on 29 April 2017, when about 90,000 people filled Wembley Stadium to watch him face Wladimir Klitschko. Joshua dropped the Ukrainian in the fifth, was floored himself in the sixth, and stopped him in the 11th to take the WBA (Super) and IBO titles.
He added the WBO belt by outpointing Joseph Parker over 12 rounds on 31 March 2018, then knocked out Alexander Povetkin in the seventh that September. Kubrat Pulev was stopped in the ninth in December 2020.
Four defeats and what came after
Andy Ruiz Jr stopped him in the seventh in New York on 1 June 2019, one of the heaviest upsets the division has produced. Joshua answered it six months later in Saudi Arabia, boxing at range for 12 rounds to take the belts back on points.
Two decision losses to Oleksandr Usyk, in September 2021 and August 2022, cost him the titles again, and a fifth-round knockout by Daniel Dubois at Wembley in September 2024 made it four defeats in total. He has won every fight he has taken since.
How Joshua fights
At 6ft 6in with an 82in reach, Joshua is built to work behind a jab, and at his best that is what he does. He uses a long left to hold opponents at the end of his range, then follows with a straight right and a short left hook once they are backed towards the ropes.
The power is in both hands, which is why 27 of his 30 wins have ended early. The argument about him has stayed the same throughout: a heavily muscled frame costs energy over 12 rounds, and he has sometimes chased the stoppage instead of banking rounds. The Usyk fights asked whether patience or pressure suited him better, and he has boxed both ways since. Paddy Power lists its current free bet offers on one promotions page.
Where the record stands
Joshua’s professional record reads 30 wins and four defeats, with 27 knockouts. Francis Ngannou was knocked out in the second round in March 2024, and Kristian Prenga went inside two rounds in July 2026. A meeting with Tyson Fury is the fight British boxing has wanted since 2017, and it remains the obvious measure of where he sits among his contemporaries.
Whatever comes next, the outline is already set. An Olympic gold medal, a unified heavyweight reign rebuilt after it was lost, and a night at Wembley in front of 90,000 people are the parts of the story that will not change.
Betting is for over-18s only.
