Joshua can make mark on world stage in double quick time

Anthony Joshua’s impressive start to life as a professional boxer continued last weekend with a 134-second demolition of Hector Alfredo Avila in Glasgow.

The victory took the London 2012 Olympic gold medallist’s unbeaten record to five wins which have all come inside the scheduled distance and has heightened his standing, once again, within the heavyweight division.

Many fans and pundits alike will question the opponent put in front of the 24-year-old at the SECC but it is worth remembering the Argentine took fellow British heavyweight Dereck Chisora nine rounds at Wembley Arena last April.

And after AJ’s performance in Scotland, where he was a huge hit walking into the Proclaimers song ‘500 Miles’ and wearing tartan shorts, if the same pundits and fans weren’t standing up and taking notice of Britain’s best heavyweight prospect since Lennox Lewis they should be now.

The next question for the Londoner, or more importantly promoter Eddie Hearn, is where the Olympian goes from here and how does he step up in class?

The Matchroom Boxing supremo believes his charge is ready to take the heavyweight division by storm but urged caution at the same time.

“He’s going all the way,” Hearn said.

“We’ve got a problem in that I think he’s ready for the division now. But we’ve got to keep progressing, keep learning.

“But right there, you’ve got something very special,” he added.

It took former undisputed heavyweight world champion Lennox Lewis eight years from the start of his professional career to capture the WBC title, while the likes of Tyson Fury and Dereck Chisora have failed to land the big title in their respective six and seven-year pro careers.

Britain’s favourite son Frank Bruno took 13 years to capture the world heavyweight title but Joshua, whose likeable personality has been compared to that of Bruno, will eclipse all of them should his career continue to rise in meteoric fashion.

And this is where Ladbrokes’ Joshua specials standout with the bookmaker going a tempting 10/3 that the Watford-born fighter steps up to world level and wins a world title (WBC,WBA, WBO or IBF) before January 1st 2020.

If you believe Joshua’s rapid progression will continue then the bookmaker also has odds of 11/2 of him picking up a world title before January 1st 2017.

As many a heavyweight has found out in the past it only takes one punch to derail a career but as Hearn knows, he has something quite special in Anthony Joshua and it could be worth investing in him to become a world champion within six years at least.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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