Image Source- The Express

Tomorrow evening, Olympic heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua will take on Russian fighter Denis Bakhtov at the 02.

Joshua to date has been undefeated and will be looking to maintain that record against the experienced Bakhtov, who boasts an impressive record of thirty-six victories and nine defeats, with twenty-four of those victories being via knockout. The majority of his losses however have come towards the back end of his career, and now at thirty-four years of age, a defeat to Joshua could well spark questions about his future in the ring.

The six inch difference in height between the pair is not the only thing that signals Joshua as an overpowering presence but it is the fact that he has remained pretty much untouched in his 8 bouts since turning professional back in 2013.

One particular challenge for the Olympic champion is that if he is unable to knockout Bakhtov, then he will have to go the full twelve rounds as the clash is set to be Joshua’s first twelve round fight, with seven of his previous fights being six round and his most recent victory against the German Konstantin Airich was scheduled for an eight round fight.

It took the Watford born boxer only three rounds to defeat Airich by TKO last month, with Bakhtov’s last fight also being against the German which resulted in a eighth round victory for the Russian. Clearly this does not mean that a Joshua is a sure thing for the victory, but it is a way to measure the chances of the two competitors with Joshua the clear favourite for the victory.

A victory for Anthony Joshua could be used as a platform for promoter Eddie Hearn to arrange an immense domestic heavyweight clash between Joshua and David Haye next winter. Speaking on the what the fight could do for Joshua Hearn stated, "If he wants to win world titles, these are the guys he has got to demolish on the way and I'm sure that he will demolish these guys as well. I don't think anything is going to stop him."