The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Shrimp Anthony is champion
Boxing: Briton passes greatest test but already seeking ways to get better
Anthony Joshua has already started plotting how he can continue improving as a fighter after so impressively passing his greatest test by beating Wladimir Klitschko.
The 27-year-old added the WBA title to his IBF championship in front of 90,000 at Wembley by recovering from the first knockdown of his career to stop one of the finest heavyweights in history.
Previous concerns about his durability proved unfounded as he also demonstrated exceptional heart and resilience to avoid defeat after Klitschko landed a huge right hand and to fight on into the 11th round, where a devastating uppercut set up victory.
There is now little questioning the extent of his abilities, but less than 24 hours after establishing himself as the world’s leading heavyweight, Joshua had already begun to make notes on changes he needs to make.
His composure in the build-up to the fight and in the minutes and rounds after the knockdown also showed a mental strength not previously seen, but he told Sky Sports News: “I want to maintain what we’ve been building on; it’d be silly to let it go.
“I want to get stronger. As I’m thinking about the fight and it’s still fresh, I’m actually taking down notes of little things of how I can improve. I want to tell Rob (McCracken, my trainer): ‘What do you think about working on this when I get back to the gym?’
“I know there’s certain things that I’ve seen working with Rob that show that if I’m working on things in the gym it would benefit me in the ring. I’m really thinking about my fight and how I can improve.
“It was really good, I had fun. I had 44 rounds of boxing as a professional before that fight. Now I feel like I’ve had 144 rounds of boxing.
“I took rounds upon rounds of experience, and I can move forward now on to bigger and better things.
“I don’t just like to win but I like to win in fashion, because it adds a lot of stock to my value. We definitely ticked the entertainment box.
“If you were to ask me years ago, ‘Listen son, what do you want to do?’ I’d say ‘I want to be a fighter, I want to fight one of the legends of the sport, in the biggest stadium, in the later rounds and I’ll knock him out after being in a war’. That is what happened.”
Joshua said after his defeat of the 41-year-old Klitschko – who has already said he will only fight on in the event of a rematch – that his victory did not match the high of winning Olympic gold at London 2012.
However, when asked if it represented the most joyous feeling of his life, he revealed he did allow himself to relish victory more than he had suggested.
“It is, it is, it is, especially in London at Wembley,” he said. “You’ve got tunnel vision and after the fight you can embrace everyone.
“I’m looking outside of the ring and seeing so many familiar faces and the look on their faces rebounds on to me, and that’s the time I allowed myself to get on the ropes.”
I had 44 rounds of boxing as a professional before that fight. Now I feel like I’ve had 144 rounds of boxing. ANTHONY JOSHUA