Anthony Joshua OBE

1989

Watford, UK

British
His mother is Nigerian, while his father is of Nigerian and Irish ancestry

He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to boxing.

Joshua’s Nigerian background can be traced back to the Yoruba people. His cousin, Ben Ileyemi, is also a professional boxer and the pair made their professional debuts together in 2013. Joshua spent some of his early years in Nigeria as a boarding school student at Mayflower School in Ikenne. Following his parents’ divorce when he was 12, he returned to the UK to join Kings Langley Secondary School. Growing up on the Meriden Estate in Garston, Hertfordshire, he was called `Femi’ by his friends and former teachers, due to his middle name, Oluwafemi. He excelled at football and athletics and broke his school’s Year Nine 100 m record with a time of 11.6 seconds.

A late starter in the sport, Joshua began boxing in 2007, aged 18, when his cousin suggested he take it up. His club, Finchley ABC in Barnet, North London, is also home to professional heavyweight Derek Chisora. Joshua won the 2009 and 2010 Haringey Box Cup. Joshua won the senior ABA Championships in 2010, in only his 18th bout, and later turned down £50,000 to turn professional. He said “Turning down that £50,000 was easy. I didn’t take up the sport for money, I want to win medals.” He also went on to win the same tournament the following year. In 2010 his domestic success earned him a place on the GB Boxing team and later the same year he became British amateur champion at the GB Championships after defeating Amin Isa. At the 2011 European Championships in June he beat the German Eric Brechlin 23:16 and the Irishman Cathal McMonagle 22:10 but was stopped by the Romanian southpaw Mihai Nistor after receiving several standing counts. In October 2011 he was named Amateur Boxer of the Year by the Boxing Writers Club of Great Britain. Joshua had an amateur record of 40–3.
During the 2011 World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, Joshua marked his sudden arrival on the world scene when he beat Italian reigning world and Olympic champion Roberto Cammarelle, and went on to stop Erik Pfeifer of Germany in the semis before losing by a single point to local boxer, Magomedrasul Majidov winning a silver medal. En route to the final, Joshua secured his place at the 2012 Olympic Games in the super-heavyweight division as a relative newcomer to the elite level of the sport.
Joshua went into the 2012 London Olympics as a novice on the international scene, despite being a world silver medallist. He received a tough draw in the last 16 of the super-heavyweight event in Cuban Erislandy Savón, ranked No. 4 in the world by AIBA and nephew of the three time Olympic champion Félix Savón. The home boxer battled through three tough rounds in his opening contest before being given the result 17:16. This decision caused some controversy with most observers believing Savon had clearly won the bout whilst a few others taking the view that he had won on merit. In his next bout he fought 2008 Beijing Olympics silver medalist Zhang Zhilei, dropping his taller opponent in the middle round; Joshua won by 15:11 guaranteeing at least a bronze medal. In the semi-final Joshua met Kazakh boxer Ivan Dychko, and despite Joshua’s height disadvantage he won by 13:11 to gain a place in the Olympic final. Joshua met 32-year-old reigning Olympic champion and former two time world champion, Roberto Cammarelle of Italy in the closing bout. After conceding the first two rounds (6:5 and 13:10) to Cammarelle, an adversary he had already beaten the previous year, Joshua grew into the fight and fought back to level the scores after the third round (18:18). Joshua was announced winner via countback and the new Olympic champion. The final decision was criticised by some boxing experts, being defined as a `home decision’.

Parents: Yeta Odusanya, Robert Joshua
Son – Joseph `JJ’ Joshua
Siblings: Jacob Joshua, Janet Joshua, Loretta Joshua

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5263350/ accessed 14/04/2022

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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/sep/10/anthony-joshua-would-love-the-opportunity-to-fight-tyson-fury accessed 14/04/2022
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Joshua accessed 14.04/2022
https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/anthony-joshua-quotes accessed 14/04/2022