Top 5 Things You Didn't Know About Anthony Joshua

When Joshua’s not working his body in the ring, he’s flexing his brain on the chessboard. The heavyweight pits his wits at chess as a way of maintaining tactical prowess, which he believes gives him an edge over his opponent. Speaking of strategy, AJ’s also an aspiring entrepreneur with his sights set on becoming a self-made billionaire. With initiatives including a boutique boxing gym in London, and sponsorships with clothing labels, nutrition specialists and cosmetic brands, he is one of the world’s most commercially viable athletes. And he’s into other sports too, notably motocross, running and table tennis.

The AJ diet is truly something to behold. The fighter refuels with up to 5,000 calories a day, split across a six or seven-fold meal plan. It’s five eggs for breakfast with wholemeal toast and a couple of avocados; Chicken, pasta and protein shakes throughout the day; And fish or lean meat for dinner. AJ loves a cheeky Nandos every so often though, where he’ll munch on a whole chicken and quinoa salad. And if the sweet tooth does twinge, then apple crumble is his dessert of choice. Failing that, then a simple bowl of Shreddies is one of his favourite things to eat.

He’s an all-round role model nowadays, but there have been darker moments in AJ’s past – not least in 2009, when he was on remand at Reading prison. Locked up for street fighting, the charge might’ve seen Joshua jailed for ten years. Ultimately, he wasn’t incarcerated, but he was made to wear an electronic tag. Two years later and AJ faced criminal charges again, this time for possession of cannabis. He was ordered to undertake 100 hours of community service, and the incident threatened to derail his boxing career. However, Joshua returned to the ring, and won Olympic gold the following year at London 2012.

AJ is already amassing quite the collection of records, both inside the ring and out. When Joshua won the IBF world title in 2016 he became the first British heavyweight to bag an international belt whilst he was still reigning Olympic champion, and only the second Brit boxer across any weight division to achieve the feat. He attracts unprecedented crowds too, with a record 90,000 watching him beat Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley in 2017, while the Carlos Takam fight in Cardiff saw 78,000 take their seats – a world record for an indoor boxing event. Oh, and he also holds the high score on “The Graham Norton Show”, gained with consummate ease.

Given his gargantuan diet, you might wonder when AJ gets the time to train. But when he’s not eating, he’s hitting the gym, track or sandpit – and he’s hitting them incredibly hard. AJ’s awake at 6:00am to smash through up to 14 hours of routines, finishing at 8:00 in the evening. He warms up by running 900m in three minutes (up to 12 times) to simulate the cardio demands of a boxing round. Inspired by Brazilian footballers, he often exercises on sand to further test his leg muscles. And he’s regularly put through altitude training to increase his stamina. But despite all the effort, Joshua reckons he doesn’t feel the physical pain, and that training is purely a mental challenge. The man’s a machine.