Connor Boundy reports on the latest accolade for the Olympic champion…
2012 Olympic gold medallist Anthony Joshua won the vacant WBC international heavyweight title, stopping Denis Bakhtov in two rounds at the O2 Arena.
The 24-year-old improved his unbeaten record to 9-0 with the same amount of knockouts by displaying his improving ring generalship, rapid hand-speed and frightening punching power.
Watford-born Joshua started the opening round fast, connecting with a straight right in the opening minute which pushed Bakhtov back onto his heels. A cut developed above the left eye of the Russian veteran which Joshua started to target. Bakhtov, who at 5ft 11 is seven inches shorter than Joshua, tried his best to shorten the range but one attempt resulted in getting hit flush with a counter right hand at the end of round one which clearly hurt him.
At the start of round two, Joshua continued where he left off, letting a few jabs go before delivering his soon-to-be-famous right hand. Both fighters got into a little tear-up against the ropes before Joshua started to get the better of it by throwing the more meaningful punches. Bakhtov could not defend himself from the onslaught and the fight was rightly stopped midway through the round.
Next up for the Olympic hero is Michael Sprott, on the Cleverly vs Bellew undercard on November 22nd in a British title eliminator.
Chief support at the O2 arena was Welsh featherweight Lee Selby, in an IBF final elminator against Joel Brunker. Selby who has been branded as the ‘Welsh Mayweather’, beat down the game Brunker with his variety of punches and foot movement, stopping him in the ninth round.
Critics suggest that the 27-year-old’s lack of knockouts could come back to hurt him when moving up to world level. Hopefully fans will get to see the answer in Selby’s next fight, which looks to be in early 2015 against IBF featherweight champion Evgeny Gradovich, who will appear on the undercard of Crawford vs Beltran in Nebraska on November 29th.
Also appearing on the bill was Islington middleweight John Ryder, who is looking to get back in contention for another British title shot. Ryder was beaten by Billy Joe Saunders for the British and Commonwealth titles last year, but since then he has gone a four-fight winning streak with the latter being a fifth round-stoppage against Theophilus Tetteh for the WBO intercontinental title.