25 June 2024 , 08:34
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Mike Tyson previously tipped Anthony Joshua to be the face of the heavyweight boxing decision for years to come after his win over Wladimir Klitschko in 2017.
Joshua defeated Klitschko seven years ago by knockout to add the International Boxing Federation (IBF) crown to his long list of honours – the World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Organisation (IBO) heavyweight titles. However, the boxer surprisingly lost those titles to Andy Ruiz Jr, before winning them back, and then losing them again to Oleksandr Usyk in 2021.
The Brit has failed to win back any of his honours after a rematch against Usyk and has since gone on to take smaller fights to try and build back some of his momentum – which is not in line with Tyson's prediction of Joshua.
At the time of Joshua's win against Klitschko in 2017, Tyson was adamant that the boxer would go on to become the face of the heavyweight division for years to come.
Speaking at the launch of his Mike Tyson Academy franchise in Dubai, Tyson said: "It's all going to be about Joshua and the heavyweights now. That one fight changed boxing."
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The boxing icon added at the time: "Joshua is still just a baby with 19 fights, it took me 28 fights to become world champion. But who cares, he's the champ.
"The sky is the limit for him now and he is going to dominate the division and make so much money if he just keeps on doing what he's doing."
To date, Joshua has competed in 31 fights and only lost three of them – but these three were the important ones that saw his WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight titles be stripped from him and handed to another fighter.
Usyk was the thorn in Joshua's side that has saw his dip in performance, as he fought and lost twice to the Ukrainian boxer. Since his second defeat to Usyk in 2022 by split decision, Joshua has gone on to win four fights against Jermaine Franklin Jr, Robert Helenius, Otto Wallin and Francis Ngannou.
However, in order to win back any of his heavyweight titles, Joshua will have to rematch and beat Usyk – who has become the first heavyweight in history to hold the world titles of all four major sanctioning bodies – the WBA, WBC, IBF and World Boxing Organisation (WBO) titles. A showdown with Tyson Fury, meanwhile, has always alluded him to date, much to the frustration of boxing fans.