Anthony Joshua

Few boxers have made an impact on British boxing quite like Anthony Joshua. After claiming gold at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Joshua was the hottest prospect in amateur boxing and, after taking a year to consider his options, signed a long-term deal with Matchroom, who have been his promoters for the entirety of his career. But it is not a journey without its ups and downs as Joshua has won – and lost – the world heavyweight title twice. However he failed in his bid to become a three-time champion when he was brutally stopped by fellow Brit Daniel Dubois at Wembley, in what was AJ’s sixth headline fight outdoors at a stadium.

In one of the most hotly anticipated professional debuts in British boxing history, Anthony Joshua topped the bill at the o2 Arena on October 5, 2013 in a fight with the 8-0 Emanuele Leo. The Italian lasted just 2:47 of the first round before Joshua stopped him to get his career off to a flying start. Leo never boxed again.

Joshua then racked up three successive second-round knockout wins, with Paul Butlin, Hrvoje Kisicek and Dorian Darch all swept aside before he knocked out Hector Avila in a round on his Scotland debut in the March of 2014. He was then handed a spot on the undercard of Carl Froch against George Groves at Wembley Stadium, his first outing at the national stadium, and he marked the occasion by knocking Legg out in just 83 seconds.

Within two months, he stopped Matt Skelton in two, in what would be his last six-rounder before taking care of the capable Konstantin Airich in three rounds of the scheduled eight. Before 2014 was he out, he disposed of Denis Bakhtov in two and then Michael Sprott in just 86 seconds to ensure he went into the new year with a perfect 10-0 (10) record.

He was busy in the first half of 2015, stopping Jason Gavern in three and then Raphael Zumbano Love and world level gatekeeper Kevin Johnson inside two before a shot at the vacant Commonwealth heavyweight title on September 12, 2015. Scotland’s Gary Cornish did not fare any better than the others as he was stopped in 97 seconds.

Then, on December 12, 2015 Joshua took on Dillian Whyte in a grudge match for the British title. Whyte was the only man in Britain to have beaten Joshua following his victory over him in the amateurs but AJ was out for revenge. And, despite being rocked by a left hook early on, Joshua took out his fellow Londoner after 1:27 of round seven.

Then, in just his 16th fight, Joshua fought for his first world title when the 23-0-1 Charles Martin brought his IBF title to London. However, the American southpaw lasted just 92 seconds as Joshua secured his first world title in style.

Successful defences against Dominic Breazeale and Eric Molina were to follow, with the Americans falling in seven and three respectively before Joshua headlined at Wembley Stadium for the first time. His opponent, on April 29, 2017, was the great Wladimir Klitschko and the pair served up a modern heavyweight classic, with both men touching down, before Joshua found the finish 35 seconds before the end of round 11 to secure victory and also the vacant WBA belt. 

It would be the first of an astonishing run of four straight stadium fights, which pulled in around a combined total of around 250,000 fans. First he stopped late stand-in Carlos Takam in 10 before he claimed Joseph Parker’s WBO title to further unify the heavyweight division  on March 31, 2018 with both of those fights coming at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff. Then, six months later, he returned to Wembley to ride out a tricky start before stopping Alexander Povetkin in seven rounds.

However, disaster struck in his next fight. Joshua had supposed to be making his American debut against Jarrell Miller in June 2019 but when the New Yorker failed a drugs test, Andy Ruiz was drafted in as a late replacement. And Joshua’s American dream turned to a nightmare at Madison Square Garden when Ruiz climbed up from a third-round knockdown to produce one of the biggest upsets in heavyweight history. Ruiz floored Joshua twice in round three and then twice more in the seventh before referee Michael Griffin waved it off after 1:27 of the seventh.

But just six months later, Joshua reclaimed his WBA, IBF and WBO titles in an immediate rematch against Ruiz to become a two-time world champion. This time, Joshua backed cautiously on the back foot and claimed a wide unanimous decision in what was his Saudi Arabia debut.

Covid affected much of his 2020 but Joshua boxed in front of a reduced crown at the Wembley Arena on December 12 that year, stopping Kubrat Pulev in the ninth round in the first defence of his second reign as champion.

But that would end in his next fight when he took on mandatory challenger Oleksandr Usyk, the former unified cruiserweight champion, at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on September 25, 2021. Usyk controlled much of the fight and, despite suffering a cut on his right eye, he claimed a unanimous decision. 

Then, 11 months later, Joshua got the opportunity to reclaim his belts once again in another immediate rematch but despite employing new trainer Robert Garcia, the Londoner could not secure a victory. Judge Glenn Feldman had Joshua a 115-113 winner, but Viktor Fesechko and Steve Gray both scored in favour of Usyk. In the aftermath of the announcement, Joshua appeared to throw his belts out of the ring and then grabbed the microphone to deliver an infamous speech to the arena in Jeddah before breaking down in tears in the post-fight press conference.

It had been suggested that Joshua could retire after his second successive defeat but he returned to the ring on April 1, 2023 when he faced Jermaine Franklin at the o2 Arena. It was also Joshua’s first fight alongside new trainer Derrick James and he claimed a convincing if uninspiring points win against the 21-1 American.

Joshua was then scheduled to fight Whyte, in a rematch of their 2015 clash, but when Whyte failed a drugs test in the build-up, Robert Helenius was drafted in as a last-minute replacement. The Fin had boxed reasonably well early on but Joshua produced an explosive seventh-round knockout which moved him to 26-3.

The Londoner then split with trainer James and began working with Essex-based coach Ben Davison. Their first fight together ended with an impressive stoppage victory for Joshua, who scythed through Otto Wallin in five rounds at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.  Then, within four months, he was back in the Saudi capital as he crushed former MMA fighter Francis Ngannou inside two rounds with a performance that his promoter Hearn suggested would send a message to the rest of the division.

However, on September 21 2024, in his third headline fight at Wembley Stadium, Joshua failed in his challenge to become a three-time heavyweight champion when he was brutally knocked out in five rounds by Daniel Dubois, one of his former sparring partners, in the fifth round. Joshua was dropped in the first, third and fourth rounds before the finish came from a huge right hand with 59 seconds left in the fifth.

Tony Sims

After Anthony Joshua turned professional, he spent the early stages of his career training under Tony Sims at the Matchroom Gym in Essex. When Joshua went full time with Rob McCracken, the former nightclub doorman stayed as part of the team.

Rob McCracken

McCracken was the Performance Director at Team GB when Joshua surged to 2012 Olympic gold, via a silver at the world amateur championships. Alongside his work with GB, McCracken had notably worked with professional world champions and Joshua became one of those, training full time at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. And the pair were extremely successful as McCracken guided Joshua to two world heavyweight titles. However, things soured after his first defeat to Usyk. Joshua had already brought coach Angel Fernandez in for the Ruiz rematch as he looked to freshen up his training team. But, after losing to Usyk at Tottenham, Joshua decided to split from McCracken completely.

In July 2023, Joshua said: Rob’s a really good coach, the only thing I’ll say though is look at Froch’s nose. He just didn’t teach me defence. And in heavyweight boxing, the level of competition I was facing at that stage of my career, I was getting hit way too much with clean shots. I was sparring Solomon Dacres… the tall six foot five guy, in Miami for Andy Ruiz, who’s five foot. Rob was in Japan for the Olympics. He only came back seven weeks before it. I just know it’s not good enough for where I’m at. Rob was too committed to the Olympic team, not the pro team. I gave Rob my best years, and now I’ve got to dig deep to get them back again.”

Angel Fernandez

After being part of Joshua’s coaching team behind the scenes for as long as three years, Fernandez was promoted to head trainer following Joshua’s split from McCracken after his first defeat to Usyk. Fernandez revealed that the relationship started when Joshua started following him on Instagram in 2019 before his defeat to Ruiz. In the wake of that loss, Fernandez, along with Joby Clayton, was brought into the team to assist McCracken. And, in March 2022, Joshua confirmed that Fernandez would be his head trainer as he attempted to win back his titles from Usyk. However, within weeks, Joshua also brought Robert Garcia into the camp meaning Fernandez was never the solitary head coach. Their relationship then ended when Joshua decided to link up with Derrick James in America.

Robert Garcia

This was the shortest and ultimately least successful coaching relationship of Joshua’s career. The heavyweight had decided to work under Fernandez but revealed that the coach had asked to bring another more experienced trainer to help. Joshua says it was Fernandez who suggested they bring in Garcia, the renowned California based trainer, ahead of the Usyk rematch. However, when Joshua was beaten for a second time by the Ukrainian, the pair went their separate ways. And it was not always acrimonious as Garcia later suggested that Joshua ‘mentally defeated himself’ and that Usyk was simply mentally stronger. On hearing those comments, Joshua said: “Garcia kind of said a lot which baffled me as well. I’m not a little boy, I can take it.”  

Derrick James

After splitting with Garcia, Joshua headed to America in late 2022 in search of a new trainer having also split with Fernandez completely. And in February 2023, it was confirmed that AJ had linked up with Texas-based Derrick James, best known for his work with Errol Spence Jr and Jermell Charlo, after a successful trial. The new team’s first fight together was Joshua’s points win over Jermaine Franklin on April 1, 2023. Their second and final fight together was the August 12 seventh round knockout win over late stand-in Robert Helenius but Joshua revealed that travelling to America for camp was no long practical. He said: “I believed that [training with] Derrick was like a process. He’s got an actual style of training, and I had to adapt to his style, it was a process. And I’d just changed trainers; I’d been to Rob, I’d been with Angel, Garcia, now Derrick. I said to the boys: ‘I don’t wanna move again, I wanna make my bed and lie in it’. But the thing is, when I was back in the UK, I was in Finchley hitting the heavy bag on my own. They were like: ‘Why don’t you go and speak to Ben [Davison]?’ He’s good, he’s given us some tips and me some tips, leading up to the fight that was supposed to be with Dillian [Whyte]. ‘Why don’t you just go and see him?’ I was like: ‘Na, na, na, na, I don’t wanna change, I’m pretty set on going to America.’ But I went and saw Ben and had a really good session.”

Ben Davison

Joshua had already been working with Davison occasionally during his spell with James but the pair officially linked up once Joshua confirmed his split with the American. Davison’s Harlow based was far more practical for Finchley resident Joshua, who had agreed to fight Otto Wallin in Saudi Arabia in December 2023. And, when Joshua dismantled the Swede inside five rounds, Davison was hailed for ‘bringing the old AJ back’. This was also evident when Joshua crushed Ngannou in two rounds four months later. Of Davison, Joshua said: “The reason I was able to gel with Ben is because he doesn’t try to change your style,” Joshua continued. “He kind of looks at your attributes and adds to what you’re good at. I went to a stage where I was trying to change my style: a bit of back-foot boxing, box behind the jab, stick and move, not be explosive, control the pace, and stuff like that. But Ben was like: ‘That’s not your body type! You’re a f***ing big unit, you’re explosive, go and knock f***ing people out. Basically, work to your body type. So, we got along in that sense. He gets it.” However, the pair suffered their first defeat together when Joshua was knocked out by Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium on September 21, 2024.