Anthony Joshua beats Charles Martin to become THE NEW world heavyweight champion

9-4-2016

Anthony Joshua's ascent to world heavyweight champion is the fifth-quickest by any heavyweight

Anthony Joshua stopped Charles Martin in two rounds at London's O2 Arena to claim the IBF heavyweight title in only his 16th professional fight.

The Briton floored his American opponent with a peach of a right-hand counter and after Martin was knocked down again, the referee called a halt.
The 26-year-old is his country's sixth bona fide heavyweight world champion.
Joshua is also just the third man to win a pro heavyweight world title while still a reigning Olympic champion.
And he is the first Briton to win both the super heavyweight Olympic gold and a version of the world heavyweight title - London-born Lennox Lewis was fighting for Canada when he won the 1988 Olympic super heavyweight title in Seoul.
Joshua's victory now brings a super-fight against fellow Briton and WBA and WBO champion Tyson Fury a step closer.
Champion Martin, who was making the first defence of the title he won in January, entered the ring wearing a tall crown, a fur-trimmed, velvet cape and a smile as broad as his shoulders. But the smile soon disappeared.
Some thought previously unbeaten Martin, 29, would trouble Joshua with his southpaw stance - he was the first left-hander Joshua had faced in the paid ranks - but he barely threw a punch in anger.

Anthony Joshua needed less than five minutes to beat Charles Martin

It took Joshua half of the first round to find his range but when he did, he landed with three or four big right hands that appeared to rattle the champion.
The challenger staggered Martin with a sweet left hook early in the second, before a beautifully-timed right put him on the seat of his pants.
Martin rose at eight but after another massive right put him down again, referee Jean-Pierre van Imschoot counted him out on his feet, one minute and 32 seconds into the round.
Remarkably, Joshua now has 16 knockouts from 16 pro fights and has only boxed 34 rounds in total. His only fight to go past three rounds was a seventh-round stoppage of Dillian Whyte last time out.