Anthony Joshua believes his comeback victory over Andy Ruiz is the best win of his career.
Joshua spoke to DAZN about his top five performances, and put his rematch against the American heavyweight at the top.
The British former world heavyweight champion is going to return to the ring on April 1 live on DAZN, against another US boxer, Jermaine Franklin, in his first appearance since losing his second consecutive fight against Oleksandr Usyk in August 2022.
The return is part of a plan to become a three-time champion, and he looked back against the wins that had taken him to this stage of his career.
5: Kevin Johnson - May 30, 2015
“This is the worst out of the bunch, it’s difficult, Kevin Johnson. He was a step up at the time, he‘d been in with former world champions who hadn’t been able to take him out. Was supposed to go in with him like prospects like myself.
“He told me he was the antidote. When I got there I demolished him in the first round, near enough knocked him out, in the second round took him out completely. That was a good win.”
4: Dillian Whyte - December 12, 2015
“The Dillian Whyte fight for the British title, a very prestigious title in England. It wasn’t a tactical fight, but it was a fight where we went through a lot of adversity. During those times of trials and tribulations, you can’t prepare for those in the training camp, so this was new to me and probably new to him, and we both put on a really good fight for the fans.
“It showed that the heavyweight division was alive.”
3: Wladimir Klitschko - April 29, 2017
Looking at my career as it’s gone on, the reason I said number three is that it gave me a lot of valuable experience, when I hit people they normally stay down, but due to Wladimir Klitschko’s experience and his long reign of being champion, when I put him down in the fifth, he knew how to recover.
“I thought he was done but he is one of the all time greats for a reason, he got back up in the sixth and put me down. That was a real learning curve. It gave me a lot of time to let me learn where to go away and improve.”
2: Charles Martin - April 9, 2016
“Charles Martin. After fighting Dillian Whyte [where] I didn‘t show any type of technical boxing. In the Dillian Whyte [fight] I displayed a lot of aggression and adrenaline and fighting off instinct. In the Charles Martin fight I wanted to show I’m not just a brawler, I know ring awareness, I know how to step back and counter. I know how to beat people without going through treacherous hell.”
1: Andy Ruiz - December 2019
“Saudi Arabia when I boxed Ruiz. It was a really difficult period in my career, I’d lost in June, it wasn’t about Ruiz, it was about being about myself, needing to improve. I have my own reasons for that loss, and I made them right.
“I went in there with all of the boxing industry saying I should never take a rematch so soon, if I lost I should think about retirement. It was so important to put on a masterclass of boxing IQ, execute a strict gameplan, and come back to the drawing board. Not only did I have to physically transform myself, but it’s my mental approach as well.”