Anthony Joshua: Natural Born Winner
Men's Health UK|December 2016

As the biggest, classiest draw in heavyweight boxing, Anthony Joshua’s innate talent has seen him reach the top of his sport. Later this month he will face one of his sternest tests yet. But his toughest opponent remains the one he challenges every single day: himself.

Jamie Millar
Anthony Joshua: Natural Born Winner

It’s 7pm on an autumnal Monday evening and the IBF heavyweight champion of the world is training next to a middle-aged woman doing something largely ineffectual with pink kettlebells. Anthony Joshua looks almost comically out of place in the quotidian normality of this north London health club. But then, at 6ft 6in tall and a lean 108kg, the Watford-born 27-year-old is strikingly at odds with most settings. And that includes being in the ring, against hapless opponents.

Right now, Joshua is just warming up. He foam-rolls then planks and bridges – the latter with his head on a Swiss ball to strengthen his core and neck. Then he heads to the pneumatic Keiser cable machine, an esoteric piece of kit that provides resistance via air pressure rather than iron plates, facilitating high-speed, low-impact training. Joshua starts with slow rear delt flies and external rotations to shore up his shoulders.

“I’m guessing you was expecting some spit and sawdust gym?” he grins, reading MH’s mind. Well, yes, to be frank. You know, chalk-coated barbells, enormous tractor tyres and Phenomenal by Eminem on repeat, just like in Southpaw… Joshua guffaws at the gulf between the stereotypically gritty boxing film and his current setting, as Mr Vain by Culture Beat pumps out of the speakers for the second time this session. “Don’t worry, it’s gonna get fun in a minute.”

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This story is from the December 2016 edition of Men's Health UK.

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This story is from the December 2016 edition of Men's Health UK.

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