Anthony Joshua - King of the Ring. Frank Worrall
to his boxing and that he finally had a target to aim for, and that he was happy doing something he loved. Sure, she worried about him getting hurt in the ring, but she knew that he was as strong as an ox and that he could look after himself. Her anxiety would be one of the reasons he never allowed her to watch him fight as he progressed up the ranks. He felt it could affect his own performance if he, in turn, was worried about how his mum was reacting ringside.
Over the years he had become very close to her and she would remain the most important person in his life as he climbed ever higher up the boxing rankings. He trusted her and knew she always had his best interests at heart. He was a mum’s boy and would always try to repay her for the efforts she had put into bringing him up alone. He owed her, and when he finally made some money as a pro he would buy her the Golders Green flat. Even when he became world champion, he would go back to living with her in the flat. It was very touching and emphasised just how much loyalty meant to Anthony Joshua. His mum had been the one person who had always stuck by him, through thick and thin, and he would always remember that and be grateful to her.
The boxing was going well, the bricklaying not as well. Anthony had taken on a few bouts and won them convincingly (apart from the infamous one that saw his most bitter rival Dillian Whyte beat him). He was learning how to pace himself and how to defend. He already knew how to punch hard but was told by his trainer not to punch himself out too quickly, as he risked being fatigued within a couple of rounds. That did not stop him regularly going for the quick knockout and would, some critics contend, leave him open to precisely the problem Sean Murphy had warned him about: getting too tired too quickly (in some of his latter-day pro fights, those concerns would become real when his bouts went beyond two rounds, although he would deal with them by coming back strong after drawing breath).
His aim was to make the GB squad and compete in international tournaments. The 2012 Olympics would be in London – and what bigger dream was there than that for a lad like Anthony Joshua? He knew it would be hard work but he was, as always, totally confident in himself and his ability. But first he had to keep on winning at club level: that way he would get himself known to the selectors and become a realistic contender. He did keep winning and the selectors did take note, eventually adding his name to their squad. By 2010 he was making such progress that his name was now being touted as a real possibility for the Olympics.
Then, just as everything was going well and the future was looking bright, Anthony typically shot himself in the foot with another act of self-sabotage. After all the advances in his career and life, he still could not shake off the past completely. In 2011, he was pulled up by police for speeding in his car and they found 8 ounces of cannabis in his bag. He was charged with possession of the drug but wrongly also charged with intent to supply a Class B drug. Anthony received a 12-month community order and was ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work. He pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis and was suspended from boxing.
He was not a household name, or even an easily recognisable sporting figure, but the police had no problem in identifying him – as he was wearing his GB boxing tracksuit at the time of his arrest. It seriously looked as if he might now walk away from boxing and return to Watford and the gang life. But something pulled him back from the edge – maybe the love he had for his mother, whom he desperately did not want to hurt any further after the way she had continually supported him, and also the respect he had for his coaches up at Finchley. Sean Murphy’s fellow trainer at the club, John Oliver, explained how AJ didn’t throw it all away in a moment of further madness. He told the Daily Mail, ‘Sean and I took him aside so many times to tell him to give up whatever he was doing out there. That last one, though, was the real wake-up call. He was doing his community service in North Finchley, on an allotment next to my house. I used to sit with him in my car when he was done and talk about what he was doing with his life. The way he responded to what happened, I couldn’t be prouder.’
The penny had finally dropped. This would be the final indiscretion. Anthony realised he was in the last-chance saloon – if he could survive this and get his boxing career on track he vowed to his mother and to his trainers that he would never let them, or himself, down again. He had been lucky to come through his two earlier brushes with the law; now he was hoping and praying for a third chance. If he did not get it, he could possibly have returned to his old ways, but fortune favoured him once again.
Team GB believed in him and decided to give him another chance, even as he was doing his community-order work. He was chosen to take part in the European championships and duly reached the quarter-finals. He admitted that the call-up was a big turning point, telling The Times, ‘They had banned me from all boxing internationally and domestically for my club. I thought I’m done with boxing. So I went back to Watford and started hanging around with my mates. But that’s when GB Boxing called me up and asked if I want to go to the Europeans. They said, “We’re still looking into your case …” So I had a week’s training and then lost in the quarter-finals.
‘It was a turning point. Before the world championships I said, “Man, I have to change. I have an opportunity with boxing that I believe in. I am going to focus all my energies in boxing.” I was 21 and I’d had my share of problems,’ he said, referring to his earlier encounters with the law.
Anthony won silver at the World Championships, a feat that earned him a place in Team GB’s boxing squad for the 2012 Olympics. That silver win not only changed AJ’s life, it saved it, according to his promoter, Eddie Hearn, ‘That was a big turning point for him,’ Eddie would tell the Daily Telegraph. ‘Look, he’s a bad guy trying to be good. And he needs to be a bad boy, and retain that to get to where he wants to be in the ring. But boxing has saved his life. He’s a pure example of it. It’s given him discipline, a focus for that huge physique and desire to fight.’
Now there would be no turning back to the lifestyle that had left Anthony on the brink of criminality. He was heading to the very top and would even be predicted to become boxing’s first billionaire. But first he had to negotiate the amateurs, and then hopefully star for his country at the London Olympics. He was finally on the right track, but a hell of a lot of work lay ahead if he was to fulfil his remarkable potential, and even one day justify entering Wembley Apollo Creed-style for a date with boxing’s real-life Ivan Drago …
‘If it weren’t for boxing, I would have been in drug gangs and prison,’
– ANTHONY JOSHUA
Boxing would truly prove to be the saviour of Anthony Joshua, getting him off the streets and out of trouble with the cops. It would provide him with a solid route to redemption, to turn his life around and to transform himself from a person some considered ‘a bad’un’ into a respected individual with much self-esteem, and whom fellow athletes would eventually look up to and try to emulate. It was a wonderful tale of light from darkness and it helped mould the man we see today – a witty, likeable guy who is also a fine purveyor of boxing skills – and to put him on a pedestal for many fans of boxing, and young boxers themselves.
The journey towards the light would begin in 2007 when AJ’s cousin encouraged him to take up the sport. Anthony was working as a jobbing bricklayer when Ben Ileyemi suggested he might want to take a look at the boxing club where he hung out. Ben had noticed that Anthony seemed restless and that his life wasn’t going in a direction he would have hoped. He also saw that Anthony, then 17, could have the attributes to make it as a fighter. He was tough, not fearful and a fine athlete. At school, Anthony had been good at football and had even run 100 metres in a more than commendable 11.6 seconds.
His instinctive sporting talent, size and growing physique said to his cousin that this was a boy who could find a new direction if he could catch the boxing bug. So Ben persuaded AJ to accompany him to Finchley and District Amateur Boxing Club and to see exactly