The current IBF heavyweight champion is being tipped by bookmaker William Hill to lift the prestigious sports award this year.
Anthony Joshua has certainly had a good past six months or so, that much can’t be denied.
He’s done what he’s had to do in many respects.
He beat an old foe in Dillian Whyte last December in explosive fashion, also showing he had chin and ability to take a punch along the way.
He then captured the IBF heavyweight title against Charles Martin in his hometown of London and although American Martin may have been regarded as a weak champion, Joshua did what he needed to do and became IBF heavyweight champion in just 16 pro fights, which is impressive in anyone’s books to be fair.
He then came through what was meant to be one of his toughest challenges to date against American Dominic Breazeale last week, again showing decent chin but this time also showing decent patience.
He is far, far from the finished article just yet, but there’s no denying that he is a good roll model for the sport of boxing and indeed ambassador overall, in terms of displaying a message of humility, respect and how people can turn their lives around.
The BBC Sports Personality of the Year award has been running since 1954 and has only ever been won fives times by boxers on the following occasions:
1967 – Henry Cooper
1970 – Henry Cooper
1985 – Barry McGuigan
1999 – Lennox Lewis
2007 – Joe Calzaghe
Of course Joshua will need to get past his next fight whomever that is against to be in with a chance of winning the award but if he were to win, it would not only be a win for him but a big win for the sport of boxing in mainstream media overall.
Currently Joshua is being priced at 4/1 to win the gong which might represent a bit of value to boxing fans out there.
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