For the few doubters left, Anthony Joshua (16-0, 16 KOs) took care of those doubts with a crushing knockout victory over American Charles Martin (23-1-1, 21 KOs), winning Martin’s IBF heavyweight title.
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Joshua, who is preparing for his first title bout against IBF title holder Charles Martin on Saturday night, then accused Fury of being jealous of his “beach body” during his public workout at York Hall in London on Monday.
“You’re always fine tuning after you turn professional, ” said the American, who represents the first southpaw opponent of Joshua’s professional career and who at 17st 7lbs outweighs the younger fighter by one pound.
He threw another another nearly immediately after Martin was back to his feet, and this time he failed to beat the count, ending the fight as quickly and clinically as the challenger had threatened.
Joshua, the 2012 Olympic gold medallist, captured his first world title in only his 16th professional fight by flattening American Martin to lift the International Boxing Federation (IBF) belt.
Martin managed to scrape himself off of the canvas, but moments later he made the same mistake again and Joshua didn’t hesitate to punish him, sending him careening awkwardly to the increasingly familiar floor with another crushing punch.
He followed up 30 minutes later saying: “Don’t worry fight fans I’m still the #King”.
Despite making rapid and destructive progress in the paid ranks, Joshua has not impressed Fury, who has called him “useless”, among other insults, and tipped southpaw Martin to knock him out.
As the commentator suggested after Mike Tyson was crowned as world champion for the first time: “We have a new era in boxing.”
The undefeated Britons have traded verbal insults this week in the build-up to Joshua’s title challenge and Fury’s trainer and uncle, Peter, is already looking forward to the pair settling their grudges in the ring.
“His right hand was fast I didn’t see the shot”, Martin said. “Keep on supporting us because it won’t last forever”.
Joshua vs Martin prediction, critical intangible:Although there are several unanswered questions about both competing fighters, it’s conceivable the raucous, pro-Joshua crowd of 20,000 plus could be a big factor in determining the outcome of this highly anticipated Heavyweight title fight.
“I’m going to walk through Fury when he’s ready”. “I ain’t going to get too carried away, still a lot of work to be done”. The two were facing off for the vacant WBC International Heavyweight title, which Joshua still holds. I got hit by a right hand I didn’t see and that cost the fight.
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“Getting there is one thing, now maintaining it will be harder so I need to be a bit more disciplined”, Joshua said.
