After an intense 7 round battle in which AJ had to fight through a broken nose, he becomes the first man to stop former Olympian Alexander Povetkin.
The first 4 rounds were evenly matched with Povetkin, and I in fact had him up going into the 3rd.
He had seemed to broken Joshua's nose in the 2nd round after a few clash of heads, and things seemed to be snowballing downward for the champion as he had a hard time breathing.
AJ's corner had an urgency about them but their fighter kept calm aand composed and returned to the fight working his jab to the body as he knew those shots would come through later in the fight.
The nose seemed bad in the early goings, but AJ started to take Povetkin's licks quite well into the 5th and 6th, and the aesthetic damage became just that... aesthetic.
As Anthony said post fight, "I knew he was strong to the head, so I had to hit him to the body."
It was an impressive approach from the champion mostly known for his power and being the bigger man.
The patience used to figure out the explosive smaller man showed that AJ is surely ready for most any man in the world, and some can argue this level of competition is more sophisticated then those in wait...
If Tyson Fury does take on Deontay Wilder later this year, many possibilities will open up for the new generation of heavyweight boxing; exciting times are ahead.
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