Anthony Joshua has shared the ring with numerous heavy hitters during his 26 professional fights – but in all those fights, who hit him the hardest?
Joshua has been in the ring against current Heavyweight champion and former Undisputed Cruiserweight champ, Oleksandr Usyk, was rocked by fellow Brit Dillian Whyte, and dropped 4 times and eventually stopped by Andy Ruiz Jr. However, none of these opponents are apparently who hit Joshua the hardest.
Whilst speaking on the Pound For Pound podcast, ‘AJ’ was asked to reveal the heavy hitter:
“Who’s hit me the hardest? Yeah, Klitschko.”
“I was gonna say Ruiz, but when he hit me that was like a concussion on the back of my head.””
“When I went in with Klitschko, yeah, I just knew this could go two ways.””
“I could either win or I’m gonna be laid out on my back. You know when you get carried out on a stretcher?”
“It was the 15 that came after that as well. This guy’s a beast, he’s a beast.“
You can watch the fight highlights, including the flush right hand that shook Joshua to his core below courtesy of Sky Sports Boxing.
The fight, in front of 90,000 raucous fans at Wembley Stadium, will go down as one of the greatest heavyweight spectacles in recent times. In a back and forth contest Joshua downed Klitschko in the fifth round before being on the receiving end of that thudding right hand and finding himself on the canvas in the sixth.
The younger Joshua looked to be running out of steam with Klitschko taking control of the bout before the Brit found a second wind and eventually stopped the Ukrainian legend in round eleven.
Joshua returns to action next month in a rematch against Oleksandr Usyk. He goes into the fight aiming to become a three-time heavyweight champion and take back possession of the WBA, IBF and WBO titles.