THE rise of Britain’s Anthony Joshua has been meteoric. The big Londoner finished the 2012 Olympics in his home city winning the super-heavyweight gold medal. Feted as he turned professional the following year, his ascent to the top of the sport was rapid. He won the British heavyweight title knocking out old rival Dillian Whyte and picked up the IBF heavyweight world title dispatching an underwhelming Charles Martin.

On an extraordinary night in 2017 he beat ageing legend Wladimir Klitschko in a packed Wembley stadium to become a unified world champion. However in 2019, in one of the biggest upsets of recent years, he lost his titles when unheralded Andy Ruiz stopped him in seven rounds at Madison Square Garden in New York.