For many years, Anthony Joshua’s CV was held up as one of the best in the heavyweight boxing business but now he has been accused of ducking a fellow heavyweight.
Joshua very quickly rose up the ranks after turning professional following his gold medal at the London 2012 Olympics.
In December 2015 came his first big test against Dillian Whyte, and after coming through that with a knockout win, he went into his first world title fight against Charles Martin the following year. He picked up the IBF belt and defended it against Eric Molina and Dominic Breazeale, then unified against Wladimir Klitschko. Three more defences followed against Carlos Takam, Joseph Parker in another unification fight and Alexander Povetkin.
His first loss came in 2019 to Andy Ruiz but he avenged it later the same year, then beat Kubrat Pulev before twice losing in back-to-back fights with Oleksandr Usyk. Since then he has clocked up three more wins before a shocking knockout loss to Daniel Dubois last September left him without a belt and diminishing options.
One man who has long chased him is Zhilei Zhang whom he beat in the Olympics back in 2012. Zhang’s manager Terry Lane told Sky Sports that Joshua has long been running from a pro rematch.
“I think it’s the worst kept secret in boxing that AJ wants no part of Zhilei. There’s been opportunities for them to fight. It’s just very clear that there’s no interest on AJ’s end, he just wants to avoid the fight, which is unfortunate.”
Joshua could well be waiting for a legacy-defining fight with Tyson Fury, despite his fellow Brit having retired in early January. Zhang meanwhile fights Agit Kabayel on February 22 for an interim WBC world title.
