Joshua Will Be One Fight Nearer To Becoming Heavyweight World Champ Tomorrow Night
It was March 2012 at the indoor football facility at Millwall FC when I found myself in conversation with former boxing great Barry McGuigan. Now, the Clones Cyclone knows a thing or two about boxing and this is what he told me.åÊ
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ÛÏAnthony Joshua will become Olympic super heavyweight champion and within five years will dominate the professional scene in his weight.Û
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Well McGuigan got the first part of his prediction spot on. Five months later Joshua joined the likes of Lennox Lewis, Wladimir Klitschko and, admittedly, Audley Harrison, with a super heavyweight gold medal hanging around his neck.
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But what of the second part of the UlstermanÛªs prediction?
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So far, so good. Joshua has battered 14 opponents in his first 14 professional fights, all ending quickly with a knockout. Tomorrow night he faces his 15th challenge and there is little doubt this is his toughest so far.
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Facing him is the confident Dillian Whyte, a former British heavyweight kick boxing champion who is unbeaten in 16 pro fights in the heavyweight division, with 13 knockouts to his name. åÊ
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Something ÛÒ or someone ÛÒ has got to give at the 02 Arena before the vacant British Heavyweight crown is won. WhyteÛªs record is impressive. ThereÛªs not much more he could have done. And he certainly doesnÛªt lack in any self-esteem.
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Yet Joshua is something else. A week after the absurd Tyson Fury claimed the world heavyweight title against the subdued Wladimir Klitschko the man the boxing world expects to dominate in time steps up his own challenge.
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Once, as expected, he despatches WhyteÛªs own claim to the top, the journey to a world title bout will speed up. It may be that the Klitschko era is already over. Wladimir, who expects to fight Fury again next up, will have other ideas. But by 2017, with Whyte and probably four other proper challengers dealt with, Joshua will be ready for Fury, for Klitschko, and for Deontay Wilder for that matter.
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DonÛªt take it from me. Take it from Barry McGuigan.