Top 5 potential Anthony Joshua opponents
WBA (Super) & IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua
Record: 20(20)-0-0
Next Fight: vs Joseph Parker on 31st March 2018
Anthony Joshua is a special athlete. He began boxing at the age of 18, was an Olympic Gold medallist aged 23 and has knocked out every single one of the twenty opponents he has faced professionally en route to becoming a world champion.
There is no doubt about his physical prowess, sporting a muscle-bound physique at six foot six and frequently weighing in around the 250 pounds mark, the man casts a towering shadow over a division of giants.
However, for a long time, question marks have remained over the durability of Joshua's chin and his boxing ability. This is due partly to the fact that he took up the sport at a relatively late age and is still improving and honing his craft whilst the uninspiring standard of opposition he has faced has thus far has given observers little opportunity to see him tested consistently against the best the division has to offer.
AJ won his first world title in April 2016 against Charles Martin. However, it wasn't until he faced and knocked out Wladimir Klitschko a year later that he truly arrived atop the sport and appeared to answer those questions, at least for now.
On Saturday 31 March at Cardiff's Principality Stadium looms the challenge of WBO heavyweight champion, New Zealand's Joseph Parker, fresh off a majority decision victory over another British heavyweight Hughie Fury. Here we take a look at what lays ahead should the heavily favoured Brit come through the fight against Parker this Saturday with his record intact.
#5 Daniel Dubois
Record: 7(7)-0-0
Next Fight: To be decided
This young, fresh-faced Londoner doesn't look like a violent man; he's unassuming, softly spoken and not particularly emotive. However, he knows how to hurt and when he smells fear in the ring he knows how to finish opponents off, often unleashing a powerful barrage of punches with a singular focus and intensity that is reminiscent of Mike Tyson in his heyday.
From what little opportunity audiences have had to observe this upcoming prospect, comparisons have already been drawn to compatriot Joshua. Dubois fights with an orthodox, upright style, exhibits a textbook and fluid punching technique and carries devastating power in both hands.
The similarities don't stop there as so far 'Dynamite' Dubois is undefeated and after seven fights he has dispatched every opponent within three rounds much like Joshua had at the same stage of his career.
Where their paths diverge however is how they each chose to transition from the amateur ranks to professional boxing. Joshua once turned down an offer of £50,000 to turn professional early in his career so that he could chase Olympic glory and at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
He succeeded by claiming a gold medal whereas Dubois elected to turn professional and step into the savage world of heavyweight pro boxing at the tender age of 19, going back on his original decision to represent Great Britain at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
If he continues the form he has shown thus far when making the step up in quality to world level then these two men are surely on a collision course in a bout that would no doubt be short and spectacular.