Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk’s upcoming fight is all but signed, with the Ukrainian leaving the country to start his training camp ahead of this summer’s scheduled bout. Joshua and Usyk last fought in September at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, with Usyk winning on points after 12 gruelling rounds.
AJ has some incredible finishes on his resumé, and ahead of this rematch, we’ve decided to take a look at some of his best knockouts. For all of our upcoming boxing odds, head over to our NetBet Boxing page to make bets on every bout you can think of.
Wladimir Klitschko – Round 11 – April 29th 2017
There is no more iconic Anthony Joshua moment than this stunning victory over the ‘super champion’ Wladimir Klitschko. After losing to Tyson Fury for all the belts, Klitschko was a man on a mission. The Ukrainian had reigned supreme for a generation in the heavyweight division with his brother Vitaly holding the one belt he didn’t have. With a record-breaking crowd packed into Wembley Stadium, Joshua walked out with a flaming entrance ramp, ready for the fight of his life.
And what a fight it was.
In the fifth, after an indecisive first few rounds, AJ stunned the 41-year-old with a big uppercut and piled on to land a huge knockdown. But just minutes later in the sixth, it was Klitschko who had the youngster on the mat with a beautiful rallying blow. The finish ended up coming in the eleventh, when AJ was able to land some heavy hooks to put his legendary opponent down again. Klitschko was never going to stay down, so Joshua pounced to land a flurry which forced the referee to step in and crown him the World Heavyweight Champion. Wembley Stadium has seen some legendary nights of boxing, but few compare to the night Anthony Joshua finished the great Wladimir Klitschko.
Charles Martin – Round 2 – April 9th 2016
Defending champion Charles Martin flew to Anthony Joshua’s hometown undefeated in 24 fights, with 21 knockouts, and a shiny new IBF World Heavyweight title. He left the O2 Arena two rounds later with his first L, and minus one belt. Joshua sprinted out of the traps in the first, hurting Martin with some stinging shots, and momentarily wobbling him. Martin went down at one stage, but the replay showed he had tripped over an advertising sign.
In the second, AJ pushed the pace a little bit more, and one minute into the round, Joshua slipped a right hand jab from the cocky American and in the blink of an eye landed a strong counter right right on the button, which dropped the champion to the canvas. It only took another five seconds for the Londoner to exploit that same gap and finish the fight to become the first British Super Heavyweight Olympic Gold Medalist to turn pro and win a world heavyweight title. A star was well and truly born.
Kubrat Pulev – Round 7 – December 12th 2020
After over a year out of the ring since his title retention against Andy Ruiz, Anthony Joshua put an exclamation point on his return with a massive KO of the dangerous Kubrat Pulev. The first boxing show in the UK with fans back, 1,000 fans filed in, socially distanced, to the SSE Arena Wembley to watch AJ put on a boxing clinic against the Bulgarian brute. Legendary promoter Bob Arum had confidently declared that Pulev would put Joshua ‘on his ass’, but it was the Brit who landed the heavier blows and sent Pulev down multiple times.
The fight was a hotly contested affair from early, with AJ and Pulev nearly coming to blows in the Matchroom bubble, and with so much riding on the fight, the tiny Wembley crowd sounded like a stadium-full when the first bell rang. Joshua scored two knockdowns in the third, with the second being a thundering uppercut which would have put most fighters out for the count. Pulev recovered to win the fourth, but Joshua cruised into the ninth where he knocked him down once with a barrage of uppercuts before landing a picture perfect right hand to set up the Tyson Fury superfight.
Dillian Whyte – Round 7 – December 12th 2015
Joshua-Whyte is one of British boxing’s most intense rivalries. Both from the mean streets of London, Whyte has always felt that AJ was handed the success which the Brixton native had earned through a harder graft. The pair had fought on the amateurs, but this one was for the British title in the pro ranks. It was at the time one of Joshua’s toughest challenges, but he passed with flying colours. A brawl almost erupted when the pair traded after-the-bell shots following the first, and Whyte hurt his rival in the second without dropping him. By the fourth, AJ was in uncharted territories for his pro career, but he showed he could handle the deep water. Both men landed some heavy shots as the rounds went on, but in the seventh, Joshua managed to take the light from Whyte’s eyes and cause the referee to forego the ten count and waive the fight off. A brutal stoppage, but one of the great Anthony Joshua fights.
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