He’s done it, Anthony Joshua has won the IBF heavyweight title after dispatching of Charles Martin in the second round at the O2 Arena.
In what was only his sixteenth pro fight, Anthony Joshua dethroned the American to become IBF king.
The first round started with both fighters being cagey trying to feel each other out, Joshua had shown that he had learned from the Dillian Whyte fight, keeping his discipline and holding his right hand high to nullify the southpaw’s left hand, something he struggled with against Whyte.
Joshua waited patiently before deciding to unload his big shots, the Brit started to get into range before unloading a first right that rocked Martin.
There was only so much Martin was going to be able to absorb and in the second round Joshua landed clean on the chin of Martin, a shot which sent Martin to the canvas.
The American rose to beat the count, only for Joshua to once again come at Martin, pick his moment and again land the shame shot flush on the chin, this time Martin was unable to beat the count and Joshua was crowned world heavyweight champion.
Once Anthony Joshua let his hands go he was getting the better of the exchanges, he was beating the American to punch each time and Charles Martin lack of head movement was proving an easy target for Joshua.
Anthony Joshua fought a punch-perfect performance, while Charles Martin looked like a limited fighter who may never have become champion had Vyacheslav Glazkov not retired with a serious knee injury in the third round the January evening he won the vacant title.
Charles Martin was making the first defence of the IBF title he won in January, but he failed to land a clean shot on Joshua in those two rounds. The American looked liked poor champion and if he didn’t have the belt, we probably wouldn’t of seen the fight, Martin failed to pose any threat to Joshua.
The Brit floored Martin twice in quick succession in the second round to close show after Martin had being saying all week that he has a tough chin, but once you get hit flush by heavyweights your going down.
Having now claimed the IBF title from Martin who inherited the title after Tyson Fury was stripped of the belt for refusing to fight mandatory challenger Vyacheslav Glazkov, Anthony Joshua could gone on to face WBO and WBA champion Tyson Fury should he come through his rematch against Wladimir Klitschko on July 9th.
Joshua is only the third man to win a pro heavyweight world title while still a reigning Olympic champion.
Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, won light-heavyweight gold in 1960 before dethroning Sonny Liston in 1964; Leon Spinks won light-heavyweight gold in 1976 before dethroning Ali in 1978, in only his eighth paid fight.
While nobody has won a world heavyweight title faster than Spinks, Joshua surpasses Ali (20 fights), Lennox Lewis (22) and Mike Tyson (28).
