Anthony Joshua vs Joseph Parker: Meet the man who turned a happy-go-lucky teenager into a future world champion

It’s Monday morning and Anthony Joshua is pulling into Finchley Amateur Boxing Club. The car he is driving is a lot flashier, as is the watch on his wrist, while his training gear is adorned with several multi-million pound sponsors. But Sean Murphy still sees the 6ft 6in heavyweight world champion as the same happy go lucky teenager that first stepped into his gym some 10 years ago.

“He likes the buzz of the gym, the atmosphere, the people and it’s him coming back to his roots and where it all started. He just feels happy here,” Murphy, the 28-year-old’s first boxing coach, tells The Independent.

Joshua is a creature of habit and so this eight-week fight camp has been the same as the ones that came before. Ahead of his potentially historic world heavyweight unification fight with the undefeated Joseph Parker in Cardiff, he is dividing his time between the Finchley ABC and the British Institute of Sport in Sheffield. The stakes have never been higher. And yet Joshua is no different.

“He’s got a bit broader now, and a bit stronger, but apart from that he’s still the same fella really,” Murphy explains. “There is no difference. He’s the same person that came in the gym at 18. He was just a bit of a joker really. He was a happy fella, always smiling, never really down. He was always upbeat and lively, full of energy. Just a really nice fella to be honest with you.”

But behind that broad smile were all-too familiar struggles. Murphy, an experienced coach who won a gold medal at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, has seen far too many promising boxers make the wrong choices in life – drugs, violence, prison – and admits that Joshua had to work hard to stay on the right path, the same as all the other lads.

“He was no different to any other kid at the start,” he says. “He could hold his hands up. He came to me and said he didn’t know anything about boxing but he had a little bit of savvy about him.

“I’d be on his back. He was hard working but if somebody spoke to him he’d stop and speak to them – he was very polite – and I’d always bollock him for it. I’d say ‘what are you doing talking? Get on with it!’ So it was giving him that work ethic so if he comes in the gym you get your chit-chat out of the way at the beginning so if he is in the gym working he is actually working not talking.”

Joshua disappeared from the gym at times. He began mixing with the wrong people, and his career hung in the balance in March 2011. The police pulled Joshua’s Mercedes-Benz over for speeding and found 8oz of herbal cannabis hidden in his sports bag. He was subsequently charged with possession with intent to supply a class B drug, and faced prison.

open image in gallery

He hit rock bottom when he stood in front of a judge a few weeks later and pleaded guilty to drug dealing. But he was given a second chance by the judge, who told him: ‘prison – or boxing’. And a year later he made good on that second chance, by winning Olympic gold for Great Britain.

“I’ve had loads of kids with problems and a lot worse than what Josh had. I’ve got one of my boys who ended up on crack and in prison. Some of them just get away from you and you end up losing them. I’d glad I bumped into Josh when I did and saw him in the street, his mum also rang me at one point asking me to see where he is because he was with the wrong crowd,” Murphy adds.

“He actually went to court and the judge said ‘it’s only the fact that you’re boxing which is keeping you out of a custodial sentence’. That was the kick-up-the-bum he needed to say ‘hang on, I’ve got something here and make something of my life. Or do I want to go down the other route and end up in prison?’ Thankfully he chose the right one.”

Boxing saved Joshua – and Murphy felt the full force of his gratitude to the sport every day. AJ became a perfectionist, poring over every little detail of his stance, his hand position, his range of punches, his movement. And this was never more evident than in defeat, something he is yet to taste as a professional.

“The worst one was when he got beaten at the Europeans,” he remembers. “He rang me from Germany and we were on the phone for about an hour. That one hit him pretty hard – he’d want to get back into the ring straight away. He’d want to work on things. If he got hurt with the right hand he’d work on keeping his left up. He was a perfectionist looking at how he could beat his opponent if he boxed him again.”

That meticulous study has stood Joshua in good stead and he takes on Parker with a perfect professional record. 20 fights, 20 wins, 20 knockouts. Parker will be a difficult opponent for Joshua, but the man who turned him into a world champion is typically confident.

“It will be exciting while it lasts but I think Josh will stop him late on. Round nine onwards.”

William Hill enlisted the help of Sean Murphy, AJ’s first coach, to see if brand ambassador Robbie Savage could pack a punch ahead of Joshua’s fight against Joseph Parker on Saturday 31 March. William Hill won’t be beaten on round betting and you can back Joshua to win in the third round at 10/1. For all the best prices head to williamhill.com. Odds subject to change.