Anthony Joshua has shared the ring with some heavy hitters over the course of a 32-fight campaign.
It is always said that the last thing to go from a fighter is their power. There are many great boxers who have managed to carry on late in life thanks to retaining a heavy shot long after their prime athleticism and sharp reflexes have deserted them.
That’s one reason why George Foreman was famously able to come back after a 10-year layoff and re-claim the world heavyweight crown by knocking out Michael Moorer, making him the oldest ever man to lift a title in the banner division at 46 years old – a record he still holds to this day.
Speaking to Sky Sports in a resurfaced interview, former two-time world champion Joshua was asked about the hardest man to ever hit him. He went with the heavyweight he beat to unify the titles in 2016, Wladimir Klitschko, who was 41 at the time of the fight.
“What it is with Wlad [Klitskcho], he hit me with a right hand in the first round and I said ‘boy oh boy.’ This guy’s got enough power, do you when they know you out for ten minutes and they’ve got the commentator saying ‘I think he should retire, I’ve never seen a knockout like this before!’
“He had the power to just go bang, not stumble you like what Dillian [Whyte] did, but knock you out for 10 minutes, Klitschko through and through had the biggest punch. What did he have on his record? 54 knockouts or something? The man can definitely punch.”
The Ukrainian great had 53 knockouts from 64 wins, defeating the likes of Francois Botha, Ray Mercer and Hasim Rahman by stoppage. He retired in 2017 after the loss to ‘AJ’ (11th round TKO) leaving behind a record in which, alongside his brother Vitali, he dominated for around a decade.
Joshua was recently on the receiving end of some huge power shots from Daniel Dubois. The pair were battling it out for the IBF crown and, after a couple of early knockdowns, Joshua was eventually halted in the fifth round.
Talks began for an immediate rematch but it has since emerged some small injuries will make him unable to make Dubois’ preferred date of February 2025.
