Page 99 - Powerlist 2019 - Digital Edition

Anthony Joshua champion and add the WBC belt to the three that he Sport
already has.
World Heavyweight Boxing Champion To do that he will have to beat Deontay Wilder, a hard-
hitting 6ft 7in heavyweight from New York. No easy task.
Negotiations for the fight have been ongoing, neither
Boxing comntinued its worldwide renaissance in 2018 side looking to give an inch, but it seems common sense
and the biggest name in the sport is heavyweight and the huge purse both fighters will earn will dictate
Anthony Joshua, AJ to his fans. eventually when the big day will be.
The WBA, IBF and WBO world champion regularly AJ has come a long way in a relatively short period of
attracts crowds of up to 90,000 people to his fights. And time. It all began just seven years ago. Joshua won gold
not just the typical die-hard boxing fans either. AJ’s at the London 2012 Olympics, but approached the idea
mass appeal is transforming boxing audiences. Women, of turning professional slowly and initially turned down
childern and families attend, alongside the old school, £50,000 to make the switch.
hardcore boxing fan. It’s as if no-one dislikes him. When he did, he took the world by storm beating Gary
All of this means, of course that AJ is set to become one Cornish in the first round at the 02 Arena to become the
of the wealthiest British sportmen ever. Incredibly, for a Commonwealth heavyweight champion. He became
practitioner of the sweet science, he is arguably going to British champion after knocking out Dillian Whyte in
make more money out of the squared circle than he does the seventh round and then came the big one against
in it. His 6ft 6in frame, good looks and languid, laidback Wladimir Klitschko where, after suffering an early
approach to life are all, of course, a marketing executives’ knockdown, AJ got to his feet and ended the argument in
dream. the 11th with one ofthe hardest uppercuts the sport has
AJ’s next task is to become the undisputed heavyweight ever seen to add the WBA belt to his portfolio.

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