Brtish-born Nigerian heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua on Saturday night retained his IBF, IBO, WBO and WBA titles after a seventh round stoppage of Russian WBA mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin at the Wembley Stadium in London.
The champion, whose both parents come from Sagamu in Ogun State, dropped Povetkin with a brutal assault in the seventh round and then floored the WBA mandatory challenger again to signal a sudden and dramatic ending to his title defence.
The win, which was watched by an estimated 80,000 fans at Wembley, has thus set the tone for a unification fight in 2019 between Joshua and the winner of the coming bout between British Tyson Fury and American Deontay Wilder, which has been set for December.
The fight had a reported £26m purse with Joshua expected to take home up to £20m while Povetkin will receive £6m. Povetkin, 39, has thus lost his second fight on his 36th fight. His previous loss came against Vladimir Klitschko in 2013 through unanimous decision. Saturday’s loss was the first time Povetkin would be knocked out in his career.
Povetkin showed early signs of danger by making Joshua stumble in the first round with a wicked left hook before blood poured out of the nose of the champion but Joshua started to dictate the pace as the rounds went on before going on to overpower and knock Povetkin down to the canvas twice in the seventh round.
Joshua praised the Russian challenger, saying the fight was tough but he was happy to achieve his goal. “ Watch out Anthony Joshua fight with Alexander Povetkin, Anthony Joshua is really a beast Watch here