Anthony Joshua: From Watford and London 2012 Gold to Klitschko, Ruiz, Usyk and the Long Road to Fury

Anthony Joshua did not lace up a glove until he was 18. Five years later he was an Olympic champion in his home city, and four years after that he stood over Wladimir Klitschko in front of 90,000 people at Wembley. His career since has swung between collapse and recovery: the shock of Andy Ruiz Jr., two defeats to Oleksandr Usyk, a knockout by Daniel Dubois, a fatal car crash in Nigeria, and now, at 36, a long-delayed date with Tyson Fury.

From Watford and Ikenne to a Finchley Gym

Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua was born on 15 October 1989 in Watford, Hertfordshire, to British Nigerian parents whose family roots lie in Sagamu, in Ogun State. Part of his early childhood was spent as a boarder at Mayflower School in Ikenne, Nigeria. He came back to England at around 12, after his parents divorced, and went to Kings Langley Secondary School. There he was known as a sprinter and footballer, not a fighter.

Boxing arrived late. In 2007, at 18, a cousin steered him to Finchley Amateur Boxing Club in Barnet, north London. Progress was fast. He won the senior ABA title in 2010, in only his 18th bout, and was taken onto the GB Boxing squad. At the 2011 World Championships in Baku he beat the reigning Olympic champion, Italy's Roberto Cammarelle, on the way to the final, where he lost to Azerbaijan's Magomedrasul Majidov and took silver.

London 2012: Gold on Countback at the ExCeL

A year later the Olympic super-heavyweight tournament came to the ExCeL centre in east London. Joshua edged Cuba's Erislandy Savón by a single point, then beat China's Zhang Zhilei and Kazakhstan's Ivan Dychko to reach the final on 12 August 2012, where Cammarelle was waiting again.

According to Team GB's report, Cammarelle finished the first round strongly and controlled the second, building a lead of three points. Joshua chased him through the last three minutes, rocked him with right hands and wiped out the deficit. The judges' total came out level at 18-18, and Joshua was given the decision on countback. The Italian corner appealed; after a tense wait the appeal was rejected. It was the last of Great Britain's gold medals at the home Games. Joshua was appointed MBE the following year.

A Professional Run Built on Knockouts

Joshua turned professional with Eddie Hearn's Matchroom on 5 October 2013 at The O2 Arena, stopping Emanuele Leo in the first round. On 12 December 2015 he faced his first real test in Dillian Whyte, who hurt him with a left hook in the second round before Joshua stopped him in the seventh to win the British title.

On 9 April 2016, again at The O2, he knocked out Charles Martin in two rounds to win the IBF heavyweight title in only his 16th professional fight.

Wembley, April 2017: Joshua vs Wladimir Klitschko

On 29 April 2017 Joshua met Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley Stadium with the vacant WBA "super" and IBO belts added to his IBF title. The 90,000 crowd was a British post-war record.

The fight turned twice. Joshua dropped Klitschko in the fifth round; in the sixth Klitschko put Joshua on the canvas for the first time in his professional career. In the 11th Joshua landed a heavy uppercut and knocked Klitschko down, then down again, and referee David Fields stopped it with the veteran pinned on the ropes. At the stoppage two judges had Joshua ahead, 96-93 and 95-93, while the third had Klitschko up 95-93.

Joshua then outpointed New Zealand's Joseph Parker in Cardiff on 31 March 2018 to add the WBO belt, ending a run of knockouts, and then stopped Alexander Povetkin in the seventh round back at Wembley that September.

Madison Square Garden, 2019: The Ruiz Upset and the Rematch

Joshua's first fight in the United States was supposed to be against Jarrell Miller at Madison Square Garden on 1 June 2019. Miller failed drug tests, and Andy Ruiz Jr., a Mexican-American from southern California, took the fight on about four weeks' notice.

In the third round Joshua floored Ruiz with a combination, but Ruiz got up and dropped Joshua twice before the bell. In the seventh he went down twice more, and referee Michael Griffin stopped the fight. Ruiz took the IBF, WBA and WBO titles and became, as CBS Sports noted, the first boxer of Mexican descent to win a heavyweight title.

The rematch took place on 7 December 2019 at the purpose-built Diriyah Arena in Saudi Arabia. Joshua, nearly 10 pounds lighter than in New York, stayed behind his jab, moved and refused to trade, cut Ruiz near the left eye in the first round and won a unanimous decision, 118-110 on two cards and 119-109 on the third, to recover the belts. He defended them once more, knocking out Kubrat Pulev in the ninth round at Wembley Arena on 12 December 2020.

Two Defeats to Oleksandr Usyk

On 25 September 2021, at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Joshua lost the titles to Oleksandr Usyk on a unanimous decision of 117-112, 116-112 and 115-113. The rematch, on 20 August 2022 at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, was closer. Joshua worked the body and appeared to trouble Usyk in the ninth round, but Usyk took control again in the tenth. One judge scored it 115-113 for Joshua; the other two had it 115-113 and 116-112 for Usyk, who kept the belts on a split decision.

Rebuilding, and the Dubois Knockout

Joshua returned with a unanimous decision over Jermaine Franklin at The O2 on 1 April 2023. He knocked out late replacement Robert Helenius in the seventh that August, forced Otto Wallin's corner to retire him after five rounds in December, and on 8 March 2024 he dropped former UFC champion Francis Ngannou in the first round and knocked him out in the second.

That run earned him a shot at Daniel Dubois for the IBF title at Wembley on 21 September 2024. Dubois, the underdog with the bookmakers, dropped Joshua late in the first round with an overhand right and again in the third, fourth and fifth. The fifth-round knockout was Joshua's fourth professional loss.

Jake Paul, a Fatal Crash and a Comeback in Saudi Arabia

Joshua's next opponent was the YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul, on 19 December 2025 at the Kaseya Center in Miami, an eight-round bout streamed by Netflix. Paul spent the early rounds on the move. Joshua dropped him four times in total and the fight ended in the sixth when Paul was counted out as he rose. Joshua conceded it was not his best night and called out Tyson Fury.

Ten days later, on 29 December 2025, Joshua was a passenger in a Lexus that crashed on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in Ogun State, Nigeria. Two men in the car, his trainer Latif "Latz" Ayodele and strength and conditioning coach Sina Ghami, both close friends, were killed; police said Joshua suffered minor injuries. Nigeria's Federal Road Safety Corps said the vehicle was suspected of speeding and hit a stationary truck while overtaking; a witness quoted by AFP disputed that.

He returned on 25 July 2026 against Albania's Kristian Prenga (20-1). Wikipedia's account of the announcement places the fight in Riyadh, while reports from the night, including theScore, give the venue as the Jeddah Superdome. Prenga dropped Joshua with an uppercut about 20 seconds into the first round and put him down again before the bell. Joshua recovered and knocked Prenga out with a right hand at 2:43 of the second round. Prenga's sudden passivity in that round drew speculation from pundits such as Paulie Malignaggi, without any evidence of wrongdoing. The win took Joshua's record to 30-4.

Fury at Last: Cardiff, December 2026

Talks with Fury had collapsed repeatedly since 2016, most notably in 2021, when an arbitrator ordered Fury to face Deontay Wilder a third time. In April 2026 Fury, back from retirement, beat Arslanbek Makhmudov and called Joshua into the ring from ringside; he then stopped Mariusz Wach in July. On 24 September 2026, promoter Turki Alalshikh confirmed that the two will meet on 11 December at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, with the event streamed on Netflix. For Joshua, a two-time unified champion and an OBE since 2018, it is the fight that has trailed him for a decade.

Sources

• Anthony Joshua, Wikipedia, accessed 3 October 2026
• Gold for Super-heavyweight Joshua, Team GB, 12 August 2012
• Anthony Joshua's top fights, ESPN, 21 April 2017
• Anthony Joshua stops Wladimir Klitschko in the 11th round at Wembley, Graphic Online (wire report), April 2017
• Andy Ruiz Jr. upsets Anthony Joshua with seventh-round TKO to claim heavyweight titles, CBS Sports, 1 June 2019
• Usyk wins rematch over Joshua by split decision to retain titles, theScore, 20 August 2022
• Anthony Joshua injured in deadly car crash in Nigeria (AFP reporting), TheGrio / IOL, 29-30 December 2025
• Joshua overcomes two knockdowns, KOs Prenga in 2nd round, theScore, 25 July 2026
• Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua fight set for December in Cardiff, Associated Press via ABC News, 24 September 2026