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Anthony Joshua inflicted the savage rhythms of his power upon Povetkin, and 80,000 people gasped with guilty pleasure as the Russian fell to earth

By Oliver Holt For Mailonline

Published: 18:57 EDT, 22 September 2018 | Updated: 20:50 EDT, 22 September 2018




There is a terrible poetry in the brutality of boxing, in its violence and in the helplessness it can wreak upon the vanquished. On Saturday night, Anthony Joshua inflicted the savage rhythms of his power upon his challenger, Alexander Povetkin, and 80,000 people gasped with guilty pleasure as the Russian fell to earth.

It was the seventh round when Joshua, whose nose appeared to have been broken in the first round and had bled profusely for some time, staggered his 39-year-old opponent with a scything left cross. Povetkin stumbled back and then stood almost still. He knew what was coming next. The secret was in his eyes and the memories deep inside.

Six months ago, Povetkin had stood across from a similarly helpless fighter, David Price, in a ring in Cardiff after he had knocked him out on his feet. Povetkin showed no mercy that night. He advanced on Price as he tottered there and smashed him to the floor. Now Joshua advanced on him. Anthony Joshua screams after claiming 22nd win of his career against Alexander Povetkin




Povetkin's eyes followed him but he was powerless to defend himself. Joshua thudded a right hook into his face and Povetkin began to fall. He kept his eyes on Joshua for a little while even as he was felled.

Bill the Butcher, Martin Scorsese's creation in the Gangs of New York, was haunted by the loss of pride in looking away from a triumphant enemy and it was only as he met the canvas that Povetkin averted his gaze.

Povetkin had no right to get up but he scrabbled around on the floor and grabbed on to the bottom rope like a drunk. He almost tumbled backwards but somehow he drew himself upright and turned to face the open ring where Joshua waited for him. The referee waved the fight on.

Joshua smelled blood now, though. Not just the blood streaming from his own nostrils. He knew Povetkin was beyond salvation and he rushed at him with primeval eagerness. Joshua shows off his belts after winning the mandatory title defence against Povetkin

As Povetkin bowed his head, Joshua clubbed him on the back of it. Then he unleashed a huge right hook and another left hook and Povetkin, who had never been stopped before in his 35 fight career, fell backwards again.

Out of the corner of his eye, maybe he saw his trainer rushing up from his corner, waving his arms, telling the referee to stop the fight.

The referee did not need to be told. As Povetkin fell, the referee caught him in his arms and laid him down on the canvas. Povetkin shook his head and tried to shrug the pain away but he knew it was over.

That is why, when people doubt Anthony Joshua, when people say he is a money tree being shaken by Eddie Hearn, when people say he is running from Deontay Wilder, that he would be schooled by Tyson Fury, that he is still a novice, that he is a pretender, they really ought to think twice.

Because Joshua showed once more that he is the real deal. This was his 22nd win from 22 fights, his 21st by knock out. He showed once more that he can deal with adversity.

He showed he has got guts and guile and heart, and that he can demolish the most stubborn and the most doughty of opponents. Only the most parsimonious will deny him the credit he deserves now. Joshua celebrates after delivering knockout blow to Povetkin in the seventh round

All he could talk about afterwards was April 13th, the date that has been reserved at Wembley for his next fight. He wants it to be against Wilder, the WBC champion, the holder of the only belt he does not possess, the man who says he will fight Fury in America on December 1.

Wilder, in his mind, is the final frontier, the last barrier to greatness, the man who represents the end of doubt.

The doubts about Joshua diminish with every fight. This was no different. The first round was cautious and tentative until, in its closing seconds, Povetkin lunged forwards and caught Joshua with a left hook.

He followed it with a right upper cut and then another left hook and Joshua staggered back under the weight of it. A trickle of blood appeared from his nose immediately. It appeared that it was broken.

Joshua was shaken. He had said before the fight that he felt the pressure of expectation and now it appeared to be weighing heavily on him. The Brit lands a string of punches on Povetkin who hits the canvas twice in round seven

Povetkin had twice been banned for failing drugs tests. Perhaps that was playing on Joshua's mind, too. Perhaps he worried Povetkin might still be reaping the performance-enhancing benefits of what he had done.

Povetkin was the lighter man and he was quicker to the punch. He kept connecting with heavy left hooks and Joshua seemed to have no answer. The blood kept flowing from his nose.

Gradually, Joshua forced his way back into the fight. In the fourth round, he cut Povetkin above the left eye and now it was the Russian's turn to be shaken. Suddenly, it felt as though Joshua had weathered the storm. He won the round and he won the fifth and the sixth, too. Then he led Povetkin to his fate.

In the aftermath, he talked about April 13th and about the rain and about the summer we have had and the challenges that lie ahead.

'I wish them both the best,' he said of Fury and Wilder and their upcoming clash. 'May the best of them win and may the champion come to London for a dust-up next spring.' It was a competitive fight and Joshua was caught early on with a potentially broken nose

Dillian Whyte, Joshua's old foe and former opponent, was in the crowd and is also being mentioned as a possible challenger if negotiations with Wilder or Fury break down.

Joshua, 28, must have been irked by the way that Wilder and Fury, both masters of crowd-pleasing trash-talking, managed to hijack much of the build-up to Saturday night's fight by announcing their showdown against each other later in the year.

It was only a few hours before the fight that it was confirmed that Wilder and Fury would meet for what Fury insists will still be the lineal title either in Los Angeles or Las Vegas on December 1.

'This is the best fighting the best,' Wilder screamed into a camera after the clash had been announced. It felt as if it were a message aimed squarely at Joshua.

If it was, Joshua aimed a message straight back at him. It was written in blood and in the savage poetry of Povetkin's fall.





Anthony Joshua inflicted the savage rhythms of his power upon Povetkin
