He might be a two-time world champion, but not everyone respects heavyweight star Anthony Joshua.
Joshua quickly rose to fame after turning professional by putting together a string of impressive early knockouts. His run carried him all the way to the IBF title which he took off Charles Martin inside two rounds.
AJ then won the vacant WBA title against Wladimir Klitschko in an epic battle that ended with a late Joshua knockout, having been put on the canvas for the first time in his career.
He took the WBO belt against Joseph Parker in his first 12-rounder before the infamous upset in 2019 that saw him stopped and dethroned by Andy Ruiz Jr in Madison Square Garden.
Joshua won the rematch convincingly but again lost his belts when taking on Oleksandr Usyk, and this time couldn’t reverse the result in the rematch.
After rebuilding with some good stoppage wins, he is now set to fight Daniel Dubois for the IBF world title at Wembley in September but is still deemed by Chinese contender Zhilei Zhang not to be a threat.
After a close points loss to Paker, Zhang, at the age of 40, looked to have lost his chance at a title shot after back-to-back wins over Joe Joyce, however, a devastating KO over Deontay Wilder in his last outing has put the veteran heavyweight back in the mix.
Zhang is on the lookout for this next opponent and when speaking to Seconds Out he was asked who would be a tougher fight for him, Dubois or ‘AJ.’
“I would say Dubois, he’s so young, so hungry, he’s like a hungry animal, he wants everything.”
He was then dismissive of Joshua, claiming he is too distracted by out-of-the-ring activities.
“How can a businessman pose a threat to me? Professional boxing is all about your performance in the ring, if you’re looking at commercialisation or your business strategy, that’s probably going to take a foot out of the ring.”
Finally, he was asked if Joshua is back to his best after his losses to Usyk.
“I’m desperate to find out. It depends on the type of opponent you’re in the ring with.”
Joshua takes on Dubois on September 21 at Wembley Stadium.
