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‘If it weren’t for boxing, I would have been in drug gangs and prison,’

– ANTHONY JOSHUA

Boxing would truly prove to be the saviour of Anthony Joshua, getting him off the streets and out of trouble with the cops. It would provide him with a solid route to redemption, to turn his life around and to transform himself from a person some considered ‘a bad’un’ into a respected individual with much self-esteem, and whom fellow athletes would eventually look up to and try to emulate. It was a wonderful tale of light from darkness and it helped mould the man we see today – a witty, likeable guy who is also a fine purveyor of boxing skills – and to put him on a pedestal for many fans of boxing, and young boxers themselves.

The journey towards the light would begin in 2007 when AJ’s cousin encouraged him to take up the sport. Anthony was working as a jobbing bricklayer when Ben Ileyemi suggested he might want to take a look at the boxing club where he hung out. Ben had noticed that Anthony seemed restless and that his life wasn’t going in a direction he would have hoped. He also saw that Anthony, then 17, could have the attributes to make it as a fighter. He was tough, not fearful and a fine athlete. At school, Anthony had been good at football and had even run 100 metres in a more than commendable 11.6 seconds.

His instinctive sporting talent, size and growing physique said to his cousin that this was a boy who could find a new direction if he could catch the boxing bug. So Ben persuaded AJ to accompany him to Finchley and District Amateur Boxing Club and to see exactly what boxing was all about. It would prove to be a turning point in both men’s lives. It was the start of Anthony’s journey from teenage tearaway to respected world champion and Ben would also benefit, ending up working with his cousin as he moved ever upwards. And if anyone deserved a break with AJ, it was surely Ben, who had helped him escape from a life on the edge.

Ben had coaxed him in with the prospect of improving his fitness – via a fitness class and lifting weights. It was an inspired move as it put Anthony in the midst of a boxing world Ben was convinced would appeal to his giant of a cousin. The club is renowned for producing top boxers and for its top trainers. It advertises itself like this on a promotional site, ‘The gym has consistently been producing schoolboy, national and international amateur champions up to Olympic level. It has also trained and produced world rated professional boxers of the calibre of Spencer “The Omen” Oliver (who is now regularly on the Sky Sports panel offering expert analysis and commentary on all the major fights from around the world). Also, ex-British champion Sean Murphy – who challenged Steve Robinson for the world featherweight title). Come here to train with fully qualified boxing coaches. Fitness and weight training also provided.’

British heavyweight Dereck Chisora is also a graduate of Finchley ABC and is indebted to the club for his own development and the way it helped him fall for the fight game.

Back in 2007, as Anthony watched the boxers, including Ben, spar and work out, he too was gradually bitten by the boxing bug. On his way home from the club he would often practise his own moves in the street with Ben and then continue alone in front of a mirror in his bedroom. All of a sudden, the lad who had become lost had something to focus on, something that was more powerful than the streets – and something that had claimed him. After a few visits to the Finchley club, he plucked up courage to ask trainer Sean Murphy if he could put on some pads for a workout. Sean agreed, and took him on the pads, little expecting the boy to have so much power that his hand would sting for hours after just one punch.

Sean could see that Anthony was big and strong but had been surprised by the force the lad had produced with no previous training or learning. Sean’s fellow trainer at the club, John Oliver, witnessed the punch and explained why it had hurt, and why it had surprised both him and Sean so much. ‘The thing with pad work is you do get problems with new boys,’ Oliver told Sportsmail. ‘They might hit on the edge of the pad and it bends your fingers. But not this boy who had come in – he hit the pad perfectly in the middle with one of his first shots, bang. Sean starts yelling and this big lad is following him, saying, “Sorry, sorry”. We were all laughing but then Sean has to go off to hospital so that’s a bit more serious.

‘My God, when we hear back from him it turns out he hasn’t broken his hand – he’s shattered it. Every single metacarpal was smashed, maybe broken in 10 places. Well, I’m 72, and I’ve been in rooms with Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson – I don’t think I’ve ever heard something like that. Even now, 10 years on, Sean has problems with that hand.’

And Sean himself still remembers the incident as if it were yesterday – hardly surprising, given he had broken his wrist and needed a bone graft. He told ITV, ‘I was padding him like I normally do on a session but because he’s so tall, I had to hold my hands up really high and he hit the top of the pad and bent my wrist back. I’ve taught the boys not to show any pain so I just cracked on but I was in agony thinking I was going to pass out. So not only has he left an impression on me — he also left a scar on me.’

It is now a legendary tale in the making of AJ the world champion, highlighting as it does the boy’s determination to make something of himself and to escape his difficult youth, while also pinpointing the natural strength and ability that would enable him to do so. In 2017, when Anthony had beaten Klitschko, he would buy Sean Murphy a brand-new BMW 3-series car as a thank you for his care and guidance over the years – and for not complaining too much about that hand-shattering incident! Sean was almost lost for words as the big man handed him the keys to the £65,000 personalised motor. In a brilliant BBC documentary on AJ, broadcast days before his fight with Klitschko, he is seen giving the keys to a stunned Sean. And AJ revealed why he had bought it, saying, ‘When I was younger I was partying, I was getting in trouble, I had the court cases. This was the time I thought, “What will I do with myself?” I’d found boxing while on bail and I had the opportunity to go to Vegas to fight. So I told my site manager I would go to Vegas and be back in two weeks.

‘He said, “Nah, if you’re not here someone else can take your job. You choose what you want to do’. So, I ended up going to Vegas. I was f****d before boxing. That was my reckless days when I was smoking. Boxing really helped me get on the straight and narrow. It was at my first boxing club where I learned discipline. How to forget your ego and listen to instructions if you want to achieve things. Sean would say, “Shut up, get on the bags, stop talking”. He told me to stay focused. These guys will always have their door open for me, no matter what. I’ll never forget who has been there when no one was.’

Sean Murphy eventually recovered enough to thank his protégé for the car, which even had a personalised number plate. He said, ‘F*** off! Seriously? I’ll be scared to drive it. I remember Josh telling me a long time ago, “I’ll look after you.” But him just winning a world title is enough for me. I can’t believe it, it’s too nice, thank you. Inside I am jumping up and down.’

Sean added, ‘Josh hasn’t ever seen me speechless but I was dumbfounded. He did it for me as he was in a little bit of trouble when he started here, he had an electronic tag when he first came to us, so this gave him a focus in life, he found something that he enjoyed and that he was good at.’

This was a side to Anthony’s character that would make him the People’s Boxer in the UK as he broke through. In the ring, he was deadly, but outside he had the kind of warm, generous and magnetic personality that brought to mind Frank Bruno, who also came to be so loved by Britain as a whole, not just in boxing circles. Anthony would be seen to be generous and kind and approachable – another aspect of his redemption from the days when he was ‘a bad lad’. After presenting the BMW’s keys to Sean, AJ explained how important loyalty was to him by adding, ‘When it’s all said and done, I never forget the people who were there for me when no one else was.’

His cousin Ben had set him on the path to boxing and would come to his rescue a second time when Anthony decided he would like to learn to box. Ben lent him £25 to buy his first pair of boxing boots and was well impressed by what he saw as AJ worked out in them: ‘He took to it so naturally. But I’ll always remember one of his first sessions – he was so knackered he had to wait 15 minutes before getting in the car. Then as soon as he got home he threw up everywhere. You could see, though, that he was getting into it.’

Sean admitted that AJ was older than most of the boys who came to Finchley, but that he made up for the lost years with a determination to reach the top quickly and a willingness to learn. He was inquisitive and would constantly ask his trainers why he was being told to try different moves and how they would benefit him when he had his first bout. And it helped, of course, that he was grateful to Sean and his fellow trainers for spending time with him. It meant a lot to a boy who had felt lost and unsure of the direction life was taking him. Now he knew exactly what his role in life was to be, and exactly where he was heading, how to get there and who would help him on the journey. The instruction handed out at Finchley would eventually come to be worth millions of pounds. Anthony’s desire and search for perfection has also been key: it meant he was willing to put in the extra hours working on his jab, his hooks and his footwork. He has a superb boxing technique and it is all down to the effort he put in at Finchley, and continues to put in now with Rob McCracken in Sheffield.

He has great humility for an elite sportsman. Never does he think he has cracked it, and that there is nothing to learn. Sure, he is confident of his own ability – and some may call that super-confidence arrogance – but he remains willing to learn and to listen. Otherwise, why would McCracken bother to continue coaching him? If there was nothing to add to his talents, he may as well coach himself.

Sean Murphy believed he had found a raw diamond in the 6-foot-6-inch boxer. He was confident he would soon have the power to be able to look after himself in bouts and liked it that the boy was willing to take his suggestions on board. Sean decided it would speed up AJ’s development if he also saw how the pros worked – so he took him along to pro gyms to spar.

It worked. Sometimes the pro sessions were bruising but Anthony learned quickly how to defend and shield himself – he had to if he were to avoid still worse punishment. Then, he learned the timing of attack – when he should throw a jab, when a hook and when not to telegraph a move so that he could launch a hammer blow. It was all coming together for the boy from Watford. With Sean’s help, he would soon be ready for his first amateur bout. He was patient but wanted to get into the ring to prove to himself that he could be a decent boxer; that he was a decent boxer.

His first fight came in November 2008, against Nathan Brede at the Boston Arms pub in Tufnell Park, North London. Anthony took the fight to his opponent, and won. Kerry Duffy from Boxing News was one of the lucky few to witness AJ’s debut and enjoyed the bout. In what is now accepted to be the legendary first article about Anthony, Kerry commented, ‘Not to be outdone by the preceding bouts, the seniors produced several thrilling displays, none more so than Finchley’s Anthony Joshua, who on his debut left the ring to a new set of fans after stopping his opponent, Minateur’s Nathan Brede in the first round. The 18-year-old used his considerable 6’6” frame to maximum effect as he twice forced his man to a standing count before the referee came between them.’

And there it was. Even in his first-ever fight Anthony Joshua showed he had the knockout touch. All those fights that would follow his move to the professional arena would see him dispose of opponents within a couple of rounds, and here he was giving the earliest possible indication of his love of getting the fight over with quickly and with the minimum of fuss.

The boy who would become a phenomenon had always had the dynamite fists and determination to beat whoever was put in front of him, whatever the level and wherever the bout. The fight may have been staged in a small, sweaty boozer, but he had delivered in front of a crowd ‘in the backroom of a pub’. Even back then, he was clearly ambitious to get somewhere fast – as his first opponent would no doubt testify after that first-round stoppage. It may have been a far cry from the O2, but it was so important in AJ’s career. That first win gave him the confidence to believe that he could progress, that he could carve out a career for himself and that he might even one day make it to an Olympics, where he would represent his country.

Within two years of his debut, he had proved just what a prospect he was by winning the Haringey Boxing Cup in 2009 and 2010.

Anthony entered his 20s winning all of his 18 fights at amateur level, including the Senior ABA championships in 2010. Typically, he won the crown via a first-round knockout, with the Isle of Man’s Dominic Winrow the victim. He had a chance to turn pro – and was offered £50,000 to do so – but turned it down as he wanted to have a stab at Olympics glory at London 2012. Anthony says on his official website, anthonyjoshua.com, that ‘winning medals was much more important to him than winning money’.

Also in 2010, he became Champion of Great Britain, defeating Amin Isa. The win earned him his position as number one in the Plus 91kg weight category and meant he was promoted to Team GB. In 2011, Anthony retained his ABA title and reached the quarter-finals of the European Championships in Turkey, where he was knocked out by Mihai Nistor. The Romanian remains the only man to have KO’d AJ, but their relative fortunes since that bout would suggest it was something of a freak outcome. Just before Anthony’s monster fight with Klitschko, it was revealed that Nistor struggles to make £1,000 a month and relies on funding from his nation’s army to continue his career.

But the Romanian showed his humility by revealing that he did not rate himself as a boxer, and would always remember the night he beat a future world champion. He told the BBC, ‘It was a special day, my trainer told me not to worry, Joshua is big but he’ll go down quickly if you punch him correctly. I didn’t know who he was or what he was going to become, he was a good boxer, he was moving all the time and he had a strong punch. I beat him in 2011 and in 2012 he was an Olympic champion. I am not too talented. But I love combat and I like to work … hard work, hard work, hard work.’

Anthony was gutted by the defeat. He believed he could have continued but instead of sulking he put all his efforts into preparing for the World Championships, which could provide him with a ticket for London 2012. He did well at the Worlds, defeating the Olympic and two-time world champion Roberto Cammarelle in the quarter-finals.

Anthony went on to win silver at the tournament in Azerbaijan, and his success secured him qualification for Team GB’s boxing squad in London 2012. He had lost in the final in Baku to the host nation’s Magomedrasul Majidov by one point, 22–21. It was a painful loss, coming as it did on the back of the defeat by Nistor, but that double anguish would serve as inspiration: he had no wish to go through the same emotions again.

He admitted that the defeat had left him in tears, telling the Guardian, ‘Majidov was an unbelievable fighter. But I had only been boxing for two and a half years then because my first amateur fight was in November 2008. So he was much more experienced. Majidov wasn’t big or tough-looking. I thought I would have him easy. But in the first round I was like a novice, missing shots, spinning off. I still thought it was going to be easy. But he came steaming out in the second and caught me with a beautiful shot. Boom. I was OK but I thought: “You want to take it there? Suits me.” I lost my composure and went toe-to-toe with him. That cost me the fight. He won 21–20. I shed a tear afterwards.’

We have already touched on AJ’s unfortunate temporary return to the wrong side of the tracks during his early boxing career. It is enough to say that he realised the error of his ways and was grateful when he was given another chance with Team GB. He had been suspended from the team after he was arrested for possession of cannabis with intent to supply, although the intent to supply charge was dropped. But he got a reprieve and made a vow to his mum that it was the end of the downward spiral, and that from now on he would stay permanently on the straight and narrow. From late 2011 onwards, there would be no turning back – and no more run-ins with the law.

The turnaround in Anthony’s fortunes was apparent by the end of 2011. A year that had started with him fearing a jail term and missing out on the Olympics ended in triumph as he was named ‘Amateur Boxer of the Year’ by the Boxing Writers’ Club of Great Britain. He would now go on to star for Team GB at the Olympics, and would eventually end his amateur career with a record that read 40 wins and 3 defeats. One of those losses he would put right when he became a professional and stopped Dillian Whyte, who had beaten him in an amateur bout back in 2009. Whyte remains the only Briton to have beaten Anthony at any level, but he found himself outclassed when they put on the gloves at the O2 in December 2015. More on that revenge match in a later chapter.

Anthony was now heading for the Olympics in London. Could he win gold on home territory? Or would the pressure of being a local boy weigh heavy? We were about to find out, at the ExCeL Arena …