Is Anthony Joshua Boxing's Next Great Heavyweight?

LONDON (AP) — Anthony Joshua has the weight of a country on his shoulders, and a fighter with true heavyweight pedigree in the ring across from him. Add to that 90,000 screaming fans watching outdoors Saturday night at Wembley Stadium, and there's plenty of potential trouble for a fighter born the same year that Wladimir Klitschko began boxing. Just five years after winning the heavyweight gold at the London Olympics, Joshua meets Klitschko in a classic matchup that has boxing fans eagerly anticipating what could be the future of the heavyweight division. Oddsmakers believe that to be true, making Joshua a 2-1 favorite in the third defense of his piece of the heavyweight title. Only 18 fights into his pro career — all won by knockout — Joshua is already a huge star in his native land and potentially on the fast track to the greatness he aspires to. Joshua, on the other hand, is coming off a spectacular third round knockout of Eric Molina and has never gone beyond seven rounds in any of his fights. Joshua's potential weakness is that he's never been in the ring with a fighter the caliber of Klitschko, who is a remarkable 64-4 with 53 knockouts in a career that began after he won an Olympic gold of his own in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Klitschko, who has long been criticized for the defensive posture he adopted after being knocked out by Lamon Brewster 13 years ago, says he realizes now that many boxing fans never warmed up to him despite his dominance of the heavyweight division for a decade.

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