Thursday 29 April 2021 10:27, UK
Anthony Joshua brings guaranteed excitement to boxing and will supply another awe-inspiring knockout against Carlos Takam, says Sky Sports expert Tony Bellew.
Anthony Joshua is the face of boxing right now, for one simple reason - he always delivers.
People and fighters in the game don't like it when they see one person in such a position, but you don't get anything in this business. You have to work very, very hard to get to that level and he has done just that.
He might well say and do all the right things, he might be a supreme athlete and aesthetically perfect but no matter how good all that is, you have to deliver and Joshua has delivered the knockout every time.
That is all people want to see from a heavyweight and that is what he does. No matter if it's Carlos Takam, Kubrat Pulev or anyone else, he will do that on Saturday night again. That is what he did against Wladimir Klitschko, that is why he is the face of boxing. It was his signature fight, that defining moment in his career - and he won it.
There are plenty of fighters who can talk all they like, look as good as they do, even box as well as anyone out there, but it is that one moment, that one fight, that will decide where you are.
Joshua is the darling of British boxing - and probably British sport - because he always delivered and he delivered on the biggest night of his boxing life.
David Haye and Joshua are aesthetically fantastic. Both are very, very good boxers who can bang, and David has even taken on the new approach of trying to say the nicest things he can.
Yet Joshua is the darling of British boxing - and probably British sport - because he always delivers and he delivered on the biggest night of his boxing life. That is the difference.
I am not, for once, just having a dig at Haye. He was a unified cruiserweight world champion and heavyweight world champion. He had the chance, ironically against Wladimir Klitschko as well, to define his status, but didn't.
He can blame it on a sore toe, anything he likes. If he had delivered - anything - we would be talking about him in the same breath as Anthony. Fighting Wladimir Klitschko was your one moment to announce yourself. It was for Haye, it was for Anthony and it was for Tyson Fury. And the last two did it, and won it.
Fighting Wladimir Klitschko was your one moment to announce yourself. It was for David Haye, it was for Anthony and it was for Tyson Fury. And the last two did it, and won it.
Fury did what no one else has done and went to Germany to do it. He didn't knock him out and he didn't need to take much damage - or give any out - and fiddled his way through 12 rounds but won. He beat Wladimir Klitschko.
Joshua did it in less fights than him, he did it in a style that absolutely no one could anticipate, a fashion no one expected - including me who went on record saying if it went past six, he would be in trouble - yet look what happened.
He was in trouble in that sixth of course, but he proved me and everybody wrong. He found a way to not only get through it, but to regroup, come again and come harder and stronger and produced that finish.
Joshua delivered. He is now at that stage where he reminds me of Mike Tyson back in the day. He could be an absolute lunatic, come out with crazy stuff, or not even look bothered, but why did the public still love him? Because he delivered in the ring.
That is what Joshua does and that is what he will do on Saturday night.
