Anthony Joshua has the chance to put his name in the pantheon of British sporting greats when the two-time world heavyweight champion takes on Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium on Saturday
Anthony Joshua has the chance to put his name in the pantheon of British sporting greats when the two-time world heavyweight champion takes on Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium on Saturday Anthony Joshua has the chance to put his name in the pantheon of British sporting greats when the two-time world heavyweight champion takes on Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium on Saturday
The recent retirement of Sir Andy Murray reopened an old chestnut of a debate … who is Britain’s greatest sportsman?
Murray is a popular choice, Lewis Hamilton gets a shout or two, Daley Thompson has his fans, likewise Chris Hoy, and there are plenty more names in the frame, including, from boxing, Lennox Lewis. One guy consistently overlooked is the athlete who will put himself in rarefied territory on Saturday night if he triumphs at Wembley Stadium.
But if Anthony Joshua becomes a three-time world heavyweight champion by beating Daniel Dubois, then he deserves to be in the GOAT conversation. But, they say, he has been beaten three times. Sure, but two of those defeats came at the hands of one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in recent history.
The other loss – to Andy Ruiz in New York in 2019 – was a rare blot of carelessness on a record that has 28 wins in an 11-year professional career that followed an amateur stint that included an Olympic gold medal. It will also be pointed out that Tyson Fury has only one loss on his 36-fight professional record and has produced those landmark performances against Deontay Wilder. True, but Joshua does not have a doping conviction on his record.
There is no denying Fury’s excellence in the ring and his fantastic achievements, but Joshua has been THE acceptable face of British boxing for a decade. In some ways, he has carried the mainstream image of the sport on his broad shoulders.
This horse has long bolted, but it is a shame that this sporting occasion is not being broadcast on terrestrial television. It would stop the nation. When Joshua, 34, is in fight mode, he adopts the aggressive, hard-nosed, nasty attitude that you would expect from every big-name boxer. But when the fight mode is off, he represents the sport with charm, personality and humility.
A post-war record sporting crowd of 96,000 will descend on Wembley on Saturday for the eagerly-awaited showdown between Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois
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And do not let the two defeats to Usyk throw shade on Joshua’s talent, particularly as he got his tactics badly wrong in the first fight. Joshua is, arguably, the heaviest hitter in British boxing history.
His brutal finish against Wladimir Klitschko on a memorable night at Wembley in April, 2017, was one for the ages. There have been signs of his vintage best in his last three fights, although it was a shame his most recent one was against a non-boxer in Francis Ngannou.
Anthony Joshua’s brutal finish in the epic 2017 contest against Wladimir Klitscko at Wembley helped make the bout Ring Magazine’s Fight of the Year
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But a Joshua on his best game will have too much for 27-year-old Dubois, whose first challenge will be to deal with the nerves that are bound to be heightened by a record crowd of 96,000. At some stage, the fight against Fury needs to happen. It needs to happen if only for each fighter’s curiosity, for want of a better word. They will want to prove who is best.
But if Joshua takes care of business against Dubois, he will have little left to prove. And when the debate about Britain’s greatest rears its head again, he should get more than a mention.
Mirror – Sport
