Having not beaten a credible name since December 2023, and losing his last three fights against top opposition, Anthony Joshua has has shared a cryptic post that seems to have a retirement date included.
Anthony Joshua was once the biggest British boxer, who provided his home fans with someone to get behind at the top level, since Lennox Lewis, he was the darling of the nation, especially after he clamied all but one of the belts in his April 2017 stoppage of Wladimir Klitschko, where the WBA and IBO belts joined the IBF strap in his cabinet.
The problem is that victory was over eight years ago, and Joshua hasn’t beaten some of that calibre since and in recent times, every time he has fought someone of that level, he’s lost badly. It now appears the Watford man himself shares the sentiment of many, and that is he should call it a day, if his Instagram story is anything to go by.
The End Maybe Near
Joshua posted a tribute to his promoter Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, who Joshua has been with his whole career, in that post there was one line that suggested his career won’t see 2026.
‘Shout to Matchroom Boxing for all you have done for me and continue to do for me,’
‘Long may you reign supreme and keep giving fighters opportunities to become champions and make boxing great.
‘Long may you reign supreme and keep giving fighters opportunities to become champions and make boxing great.
’12 years ago, I signed with you and 12 years later I will throw my last punch with you.
‘Royalty and loyalty is a perfect match for the great good. A toast to another 100 years of Matchroom Boxing
‘And to finish on this… If I could start from scratch, I wouldn’t change s***.’
Under the Matchroom banner, Joshua has become a two-time heavyweight champion but also suffered four defeats.
The Rise
Joshua won the gold medal in the Super Heavyweight division at the 2012 London Olympics, defeating fellow professional. Zhilei Zhang in the Quarter-final.
Then after signing with Matchroom, he made his professional debut on the 5th October, with a first round knockout of Emanuele Leo. His next three opponents, Paul Butlin, Hrvoje Kisicek and Dorian Darch, did one better than Leo, making it to the second round before being stopped.
After dispatching Hector Alfredo Avila, Matt Legg, his first Wembley appearance, and Matt Skelton within two rounds, Joshua was taken into the third round for the first time by tough German, Konstantin Airich in Manchester.
He then started having ten round fights but that didn’t stop the early stoppages, this time Denis Bakhtov and Michael Sprott were on the recieving end, and in two proceeding eight rounders it was the turn of Jason Gavern and Raphael Zumbano.
He was lined up for a Commonwealth Heavyweight title shot after stopping Kevin Johnson in two rounds, the title clash turned out to be one of his earliest wins, beating Gary Cornish in less than 90 seconds. His next fight kicked off a rivalry that still exists to this day, he met Dillian Whyte in December 2015 and overcame some difficulty to finally drop Whyte for the count in round seven, which lined him up for his first crack at a world title.
IBF Champion Charles Martin wasn’t much of a match and lost his title before the third round. His first defence against Dominic Breazeale didn’t put up much of a fight either, though he did survive up to the seventh. Joshua dispatched a soft touch Eric Molina who barely threw a punch in the three rounds that their fight lasted, but as the event ended everyone had forgotten the fight, as into the ring stepped Wladimir Klitschko.
Joshua and Klitschko traded blow after blow and both fighters were downed more than once, Joshua was tested beyond anything he had faced before, he found something deep inside to stop Dr Steelhammer in Round 11, becoming WBA, IBF and IBO Champion.
Bump In The Road
Now with the majority of the heavyweight belts in his hands, the clammer for a clash with then WBC Champion, Deontay Wilder was sky high but it was never made.
He did defeat Carlos Takam, Joseph Parker, in which he added the WBO title and Alexander Povetkin to take his record to a perfect 22-0.
Joshua was scheduled to meet Jarrell Miller in his American debut in Summer 2019, However, a failed drugs test meant Andy Ruiz Jr got the call.
As we all know, Ruiz got up from a third round knockdown to give Joshua the same treatment, resulting in him shocking the world by stopping AJ in the seventh to become unified champion himself.
The Brit got his revenge that December and defended the belts in late 2020 in another seventh round stoppage, this time Kubrat Pulev fell.
Then, it all started to go wrong, he lost his belts again in a lopsided decision in his first meeting with Oleksandr Usyk in 2021, and the Ukranina repeated the feat a year later, knocking Joshua further down the rankings.
He recovered with wins against fringe contenders, Jermaine Franklin, Robert Helenious, Otto Wallin and his second round knockout of Francis Ngannou, it all fell apart again though as seven months after the Ngannou fight, he was taken apart by Daniel Dubois and was knocked flush in five, and it looks like that was Joshua’s penultimate outing.
How Will He Be Remembered?
Although Joshua’s career has taken a nose dive recently, he quite rightly should be known as the boxer who held the baton for British Boxingk on the world stage, after Tyson Fury’s mental struggles, and made it exciting to be a fan once more.
