All the Titles Held by Anthony Joshua: How Many Belts Does He Have?

On looking at the current heavyweight titleholders, Anthony Joshua appears to be the most dominant champion among all. The three-belt unified titlist has overcome several A-listed adversaries inside the ring, being flawless in almost all of his fights. Although Andy Ruiz Jr. was able to stop him once, ‘AJ’ successfully avenged the defeat. He has overpowered every man he has faced in the professional boxing circuit.

Furthermore, Joshua is a 2x unified heavyweight champion, a knockout artist, and an absolute superstar in the sport of boxing. His 24-1 resume, reflects 22 knockouts, with several accolades and an Olympic gold medal as an amateur. Thus, the Brit star has accomplished enough to go down as one of the best ever in the business.

Although several of his contemporaries like Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte hesitate to accept Anthony Joshua’s achievements, that hasn’t curbed ‘AJ’ from nurturing his legacy.

While boxing has several world titles, Joshua seems to have targeted all of them and is just one title short of becoming the undisputed unified heavyweight champion. On attaining that, Anthony Joshua will be the second man to hold all four major world titles after Lennox Lewis.

Here’s a look at Anthony Joshua’s current status and the titles he boasts.

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Anthony Joshua – The Belt Collector

The prime championship ride considers only four major titles- WBC, WBA, WBO, and IBF. However, the IBO belt is similarly important and Anthony Joshua holds four of them- WBA, WBO, IBF, IBO. Tyson Fury holds the other title, WBC. But the current boxing domain considers Anthony Joshua as a three-belt titlist.

Anthony Joshua tasted his first world championship in 2016 after putting his hands on several minor titles and an unbeaten record of 15-0. A knockout win over Dillian Whyte earned him a shot at the IBF belt, and Joshua didn’t let the opportunity slip. The former Olympic gold medalist knocked out Charles Martin in a mere two rounds to grab the IBF belt. He then went on to add title after title to his collection.

After defending the IBF straps via KOs against Dominic Breazeale and Eric Molina, Anthony Joshua challenged the legendary Wladimir Klitschko for the WBA (super) and vacant IBO titles. Despite being a legend, Klitschko was coming off from a two-year layoff and a loss against Tyson Fury. The result was the Ukrainian star fell prey to Joshua’s knockout power and retired from boxing after suffering the big loss in 2017.

Following the win, Joshua beat Carlos Takam and then Joseph Parker to add the WBO heavyweight title beside his three belts. With a legendary aura and stellar success, Joshua then knocked out Alexander Povetkin in his first four-belt title defense. However, Ruiz Jr. snatched them all in 2019 in what turned to be one of the biggest upsets in heavyweight boxing.

The Resurrection

Following the maiden loss of his career, Joshua received an immediate rematch after six months. He outclassed Ruiz Jr. and earned a non-knockout victory for the first time in his pro career. Thus, Andy Ruiz Jr. remains the only man to have beaten or knocked Anthony Joshua out. He is also the only man to have remained knockout-free against ‘AJ’.

After the glorious resurrection, Joshua scored another knockout title defense against Kubrat Pulev. He will now go against an undefeated Oleksandr Usyk in his next fight.

Do you think Anthony Joshua has done it all in pro boxing?

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