Anthony Joshua: Heavyweight King or Hype Job?

Dean Wigzell
Jan 22, 2017
2 min read

On April 29th 2017 Anthony Joshua steps into the ring at Wembley Stadium in front of a record breaking crowd in the biggest fight of his career to date. After a much talked about clamour for tickets, around 90,000 spectators will turn out to see Joshua defend his IBF title and challenge for the vacant WBA Super and IBO titles against former heavyweight supremo Wladimir Klitschko.

Joshua, billed by many as the ‘People’s Champion’, has long been tipped for the top of the tree. Olympic Gold at London 2012, followed by an expertly managed introduction to the pro ranks has seen his stock rise at a rapid rate. Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter has talked up his appeal and ability to ‘transcend sport’ from the get-go citing his good looks, charm and apparent well-mannered demeanour coupled with his explosive power in the ring as the winning combination.

And yet, despite becoming a fully-fledged World Champion in just his 16th professional bout, the doubters still circle. Tweets from supposed ‘hardcores’ stating that Joshua fights binmen, bums and bouncers are common, as are claims that Eddie Hearn hand picks opponents to make his charge look good.

Many of them feel that Joshua has had it easy thus far, but surely the adage ‘you can only beat what’s in front of you’ applies for the Watford fighter? Devastating knock outs dished out to every single individual that has dared to step into the ring with Joshua should be enough to convince even the most hardcore of hardcores.

Even in agreeing to fight Klitschko, the former heavyweight champion of 11 years, in front of a record crowd for British soil Joshua still can’t win with some. The argument that Klitschko is passed it is one that burns brightly amongst the doubters.

Despite all the doubts swirling around the boxing aficionados, one scroll through my twitter feed shows hundreds of self-professed hardcore’s complaining that the in-demand Wembley tickets have gone to casuals and prevented ‘real boxing fans’ from attending the fight.

Personally, the fact that the previously stagnant Heavyweight division has been given a swift kick up the arse of late with a British fighter at the forefront, I think that’s brilliant for the sport. This country hasn’t had a genuine Heavyweight since Lennox Lewis reigned supreme and I think we should simply embrace and enjoy the journey. I find it baffling that someone with such power, athleticism and ability, coupled with huge potential and a bright future ahead of him should split opinion. Haven’t we been asking for someone like him for years now? All the signs so far have been hugely promising and come what may on April 29th I fully expect to see AJ leading the charge for the British Heavyweight’s for a long time yet.

Where do you stand amongst the AJ debate? Tweet @TheBoxingBanter and let us know.