Anthony Joshua has been one of the most recognisable names in British sport for more than a decade, and a meeting with Tyson Fury in Cardiff is the fight his career has always seemed to be heading towards. The Fury vs Joshua odds reflect two men with very different stories, and Joshua’s has involved more peaks, setbacks and comebacks than most. Here is how he got here.
From Watford to Olympic gold
Joshua was born in Watford on 15 October 1989 and did not start boxing until 2007, when he was 18 and a cousin took him to Finchley ABC in north London. Five years later he was in the super-heavyweight final at the London 2012 Olympics against Roberto Cammarelle, the defending champion. The bout finished 18-18 and Joshua took gold on countback, one of the stories of a home Games.
An unbeaten rise
He turned professional on 5 October 2013, stopping Emanuele Leo inside a round at the O2 Arena. The knockouts kept coming. In December 2015 he beat Dillian Whyte in the seventh round for the British title, after taking the heaviest punches he had faced to that point, and on 9 April 2016 he knocked out Charles Martin in two rounds to become IBF champion in only his 16th fight.
Wembley and Cardiff
The night that made him a star came on 29 April 2017, when he got up from a knockdown to stop Wladimir Klitschko in the 11th round in front of about 90,000 at Wembley. He then took his title defences to the Principality Stadium, stopping Carlos Takam there in October 2017 and outpointing Joseph Parker in March 2018 to add the WBO belt. Cardiff is not new territory for him.
Ruiz and the rebuild
On 1 June 2019 at Madison Square Garden, Andy Ruiz Jr knocked Joshua down four times and stopped him in the seventh round, one of the biggest upsets the division has seen. Six months later in Saudi Arabia, Joshua boxed patiently behind his jab for 12 rounds and won the belts back on points. He followed that by knocking out Kubrat Pulev in the ninth round in December 2020.
Usyk, Dubois and a new approach
Two defeats on points to Oleksandr Usyk, in September 2021 and August 2022, cost Joshua his titles again. He went through two trainer changes, first to Derrick James in Texas and then to Ben Davison in late 2023, and put together a run of four wins that ended with a two-round knockout of Francis Ngannou in March 2024. Daniel Dubois then stopped him in the fifth round at Wembley in September 2024, his fourth professional defeat.
Jake Paul, loss and Prenga
Joshua returned on 19 December 2025 in Miami, knocking out Jake Paul in the sixth round in a fight Netflix said drew 33 million viewers. Ten days later he was injured in a car crash on the Lagos to Ibadan Expressway in Nigeria in which two close friends died.
He came back in Jeddah in July 2026 against Kristian Prenga and was knocked down twice in the opening round. Joshua got up both times, and a right hand ended the fight in the second. He dedicated the win to the friends he had lost.
Where the record stands
Joshua goes into the Fury fight with 30 wins and four defeats, 27 of the wins by knockout. Those results show a heavyweight who has been knocked down and beaten more than once, and who has come back every time. Anyone weighing up the boxing odds on his next fight will find both versions of him in that record, the puncher who finishes fights early and the boxer who can be hurt.
Fury against Joshua has been talked about since 2017. Whatever happens in Cardiff, the outline of Joshua’s career is already secure: Olympic gold, two spells as a unified world champion and some of the biggest crowds British boxing has drawn.
Betting is for over-18s only.
Featured image credit: JazzyJoeyD via Wikimedia Commons
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