Anthony Joshua's top five career defining professional victories ahead of Kubrat Pulev clash

GBN take a look at the top five victories of two-time heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua ahead of Kubrat Pulev clash

Anthony Joshua is just one fight away from securing a showdown with fellow British world-class heavyweight Tyson Fury in 2021, but must take on one more test before he propels himself into stardom and a shot at becoming undisputed heavyweight king of the world.

The SSE Arena in Wembley plays host to the Heavyweight World Title clash between unified champion Anthony Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs) and IBF mandatory Kubrat Pulev (28-1, 14 KOs), live on Sky Sports Box Office and DAZN in the UK.

We take a look at five contests in chronological order that propelled Anthony Joshua into his status as world heavyweight champion:

 

1. Anthony Joshua vs Dillian Whyte

 

Anthony Joshua faced fellow British heavyweight prospect Dillian Whyte at the 02 Arena in one of the most fiery British boxing contests in recent years with a very big atmosphere and the British, Commonwealth and WBC international heavyweight titles at stake.

The Watford fighter exchanged in a bitter war of words throughout the build up, and a fiesty opening round with a mass brawl in the ring set up the contest nicely for an explosion. With the fight emerging into a back and forth brawl with Joshua rocked during a tight opening 6 rounds, Joshua exploded onto the scene displaying his power with a huge right uppercut sending Whyte crashing to the canvas.

Before he could regain any momentum, Joshua charged forward and threw some huge shots that all landed flush before the referee stepped in and handed Joshua his 15th professional victory and continuing his 100% knockout ratio in style.

He would then vacate all of the titles he had earned in order to pursue his first shot at a world title after such a succesful amateur and olympic career.

 

2. Anthony Joshua vs Charles Martin

Promised to be a huge task for Joshua, The British fighter took on American heavyweight king Charles Martin at the 02 Arena in London where he continued his journey towards world glory.

With a raucous entrance, Joshua came flying out from the first bell displaying his speed power and agility to bully Martin aorund the ring in the opening round making a real statement going into the opening stanza of the fight.

However in the second, the Briton saw his opportunity landing a straight right hand flush sending Martin down to the canvas for the first time, before waiting for the opportunity to beat him back down to the canvas after his survival of the first count, with yet another straight right hand.

His raw power was shown as Martin could not make the second count, and he sent shockwaves through the heavyweight division becoming IBF world heavyweight champion and setting up some huge nights ahead with a growing fanbase and ever-growing expectation and popularity with yet another explosive stoppage.

 

3. Anthony Joshua vs Wladimir Klitschko

In arguably one of the greatest and most entertaining heavyweight contests of the modern era, Anthony Joshua too on heavyweight great Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley infront of a record 90,000 crowd.

What would follow was simply incredible, with Joshua initially scoring an explosive knockdown in the fifth round with a thumping right hand to come close to his best professional victory yet.

However Klitschko did not give up, making the count and flying out for the bellin the sixth scored a heavy shot of his own sending Joshua to the canvas for the first time in his professional career.

This sent Joshua spinning out of control and the whole arena was plunged into shock, with Joshua cleaerly off balance and waivered for the following three rounds until one of the most incredible rounds in recent boxing memory.

In the eleventh round, Joshua mustered an incredibke amount of energy and power landing an iconic short uppercut that sent a shiver down the spine of the huge audience and lead to a raucous atmosphere as Joshua sent Klitschko to the canvas with a barrage of further stiff shots. Then Joshua came foward again seizing the opportunity with another right hand to score his second knockdown of the round but still Klitschko got up and made the count.

But then Joshua came once again following klitschko onto the ropes and unloading an incredible amount of powerful shots before the referee stepped in and sealed one of the most incredible turnaround victories from a British fighter.

Anthony Joshua became WBA and IBO heavyweight champions to add to his IBF belt and recorded one of the most incredible stoppage victories infront of millions of audience members across the globe.

 

4. Anthony Joshua vs Alexander Povetkin

After losing his 100% kncokout ratio in a tough unanimous decision victory over Joseph Parker, Joshua would take on seasoned heavyweight Alexander Povetkin at the Principality Stadium in Wales.

He recorded yet another explosive knockout victory against a fighter with an incredible guard and chin, with a double knockdown in the seventh round to record yet another entertaining stoppage ad take down another of the heavyweight division's top fighters.

This victory also handed him yet succesful defence of all four of his heavyweight titles, and showed how impressive his power was after recently seeing Dillian Whyte stopped by the powerful Russian in explosive fashion.

 

5. Anthony Joshua vs Andy Ruiz 2

After one of the most incredible recent upsets losing to Mexican Andy Ruiz Jr at Madison Square Garden in his American debut he was handed an opportunity for immediate redemption and a step back onto the path of becoming unified heavyweight king and regaining his belts.

He took on the Mexican in Saudi Arabia in one of the most anticipated events in recent years labbeled 'the clash of the dunes' which turned out to break the British PPV record.

In a different performance, Joshua took the contest the distance showing a new tactical gameplan, and answering critic concerns over his ability to use his 'brain' and boxing technique by using his jab well and keeping the distance throughout the fight to remove any effectiveness of Ruiz's short distance power to regain his crowns.

He sealed another historic victory to become two-time world champion regaining his belts by unanimous decision over Andy Ruiz Jr and set his course to face the victor of Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder 2 for the undisputed heavyweight crown and take part in one of the most incredible, historic heavyweight contests of all time.

 

READ MORE: ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW AHEAD OF ANTHONY JOSHUA VS KUBRAT PULEV 

 

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