British Olympic super heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua speaks during a press conference with IBF world heavyweight boxing champion Charles Martin, from the U.S., at a hotel in London, Thursday, April 7, 2016. AP
Anthony Joshua comes across as the antithesis to fellow British boxer Tyson Fury, who will be in his sights if he wins his first world heavyweight title on Saturday.
Joshua is the polite, smiling and muscular 2012 Olympic gold medallist who challenges American Charles Martin for his IBF heavyweight title at London’s O2 Arena after knocking out all 15 of his professional opponents.
Despite making rapid and destructive progress in the paid ranks, Joshua has not impressed Fury, who has called him “useless”, among other insults, and tipped southpaw Martin to knock him out.
Granite-fisted Joshua, 26, is just the latest target of Fury’s vitriol, which has made the self-proclaimed ‘Gypsy King’ one of the most controversial figures in British sport.
And as Joshua approaches the biggest fight of his life, there is a growing sense of inevitability that he will fight Fury if he can beat Martin, who has stopped 21 of 24 opponents, with one draw.
“Let me handle the business in the ring and then we can move forward,” Joshua said.
“Every era has its heavyweights—Ali, Frazier, Foreman, then Lennox, Holyfield, Tyson, and now me, (David) Haye… We have to get it on. Even if it’s in 12 months’ time, we have to get it on.
“We can’t wait any longer because we’re all coming to the top of our games, we’re all peaking. It’s a fight (against Fury) that has to happen sooner rather than later.”
Joshua, who has offered Fury a pair of ringside tickets for Saturday’s fight, has a polished public image in contrast to Fury, who seems to revel in causing controversy.
“He is no more special than the next man and that is why I don’t really get along with him or agree with the things he says,” said Joshua.
“The way he’s talking, he thinks he’s the second coming of Sugar Ray Robinson or Mike Tyson.
“He needs to pipe down and focus on his own improvement because when he comes up against someone fresh, young and hungry, there’s going to be problems.”
Martin a ‘new man’
Fury, 27, captured the IBF, WBA and WBO belts when he upset the odds with a points win over Wladimir Klitschko in November.
The Manchester boxer was stripped of the IBF belt for agreeing to face Klitschko in a rematch.
Martin, 29, won the vacant IBF title when Ukrainian Vyacheslav Glazkov injured a knee during their bout in January and is reportedly guaranteed to earn nearly £3.5 million ($4.9 million) for facing Joshua.
Joshua, the British and Commonwealth champion, believes Martin conceded home advantage in order to cash in.
“He said, ‘I’m prepared to travel to fight the best, I’m not going to take it easy,’ or maybe he’s coming because he thinks I’m easy pickings and he wants some English money quick,” said Joshua.
Joshua, born in Watford to Nigerian parents, will start as favorite despite his inferior experience in the professional ranks since winning Olympic gold.
Martin, from Missouri, has dismissed the relevance of Joshua’s Olympic triumph and is promising a knockout.
“He didn’t really win that gold medal, they babied him through it because it was in London and he’s from London. He was gifted it,” the American said.
Martin, who was working in construction in Arizona before taking up boxing aged 19, has suggested that Joshua may struggle in the later rounds because of his muscular frame.
“The winner of this fight will be the one who is smarter and if Joshua commits to coming after me too hard, he will walk onto a counter-punch,” he said.
“I’ve been doing two-and-a-half-hour strength and conditioning sessions and I feel more balanced, more strength, more speed, more agility and I feel like a new man.”
Joshua, however, has only once been taken beyond three rounds, spectacularly knocking out fellow Briton Dillian Whyte in the seventh round last December.