ANTHONY JOSHUA WAS at his devastating best last night as he stopped Kevin Johnson in the second round after twice flooring the American in the opening round of their heavyweight clash at London’s O2 Arena.
The 2012 Olympic gold medalist had easily stopped all of his previous twelve opponents but in the build-up to this fight we were told that Kevin Johnson was supposed to provide Anthony Joshua with the toughest test of his professional career.
Johnson, 36, is definitely not the same fighter that fought to a decision with Vitali Klitschko in 2009 but he had denied Tyson Fury and Dereck Chisora stoppage wins in the last three years. He never looked comfortable in the ring with the man he called a ‘media hype job’, however, and the fight could have easily been stopped in the first.
After already being down once, he was again knocked to the ground at the close of the round with a series of huge punches. Johnson was saved by the bell but it took Joshua just 83 seconds of the second round to force the referee to intervene and stop the one-sided beating.
Watford-born Joshua, who has never been beyond three rounds, is scheduled to compete again on 18 July.