An American dream

Anthony Joshua, a 29-year-old prizefighting clotheshorse from London whose wardrobe includes four heavyweight title belts, is British royalty.

Preposterously handsome for a man whose occupation requires taking blows to the face, Joshua, who stands 6 feet 6 inches tall, weighs 250 pounds and appears to have the body fat of lettuce, has an undefeated record (22-0, 21 knockouts). He also has a portfolio worth, according to a 2018 list in Forbes of the world’s highest-paid athletes, $39 million — virtually unheard-of for a boxer who has yet to fight professionally in the United States.

In recent years, Joshua has landed business deals with 14 mostly European “commercial partners”, as he calls them, which has surely increased his net worth. He has also signed a multi-million-dollar contract with DAZN, a subscription streaming service that will broadcast his fight against Andy Ruiz Jr (32-1) at Madison Square Garden on June 1.

Though Joshua is wildly popular in London, where 90,000 fans roar when he trades punches with opponents at Wembley Stadium, his recent arrival at a Hugo Boss store in Midtown Manhattan was met with the kind of notice that could be appreciated only by a cat burglar. Nary a soul knew the champ was in the house.

Anthony Joshua

“I wouldn’t expect anyone outside of boxing to recognise me in New York, or any other place in the world where they haven’t seen me fight,” Joshua said early in May at the Hugo Boss Columbus Circle location. There he inspected several new pieces created for the Boss Stretch Tailoring campaign, which Joshua began endorsing about a year and a half ago.

His unceremonious greeting at the shop appeared to catch the affable boxer with his guard down. Yet it was an indication that Joshua suffers from an American identity crisis that could derail the expansion of his financial empire in the United States, where he is banking on becoming boxing’s version of David Beckham, whom Joshua refers to as his “style icon”. 

Bill Duffy, a sports agent who represents past and current NBA players, said Joshua’s goal of achieving Beckham-like wealth and fame through boxing will not be easy. “If Joshua comes over here and starts kicking some butt,” Duffy said, “he will also get that same kind of validation, that same kind of recognition.”

Freddie Cunningham, Joshua’s managing director, is well aware of the importance of his fight with Ruiz, who will be attempting to take home Joshua’s WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO titles, not to mention the multi-million-dollar purse.

“This is simply a must-win situation,” Cunningham said. “In order to please both the American audience and potential commercial partners here in the United States, Anthony must not just win this fight, but he must win it in style.”

Joshua, who was on the cover of British GQ magazine — he was voted its Sportsman of the Year in 2017 — has combined good looks with great entrepreneurial instincts to become a marketing machine whose image is used to sell clothing, jewellery, automobiles and other products throughout England.

During his undefeated run as a professional fighter, which followed his gold medal performance as a member of Britain’s boxing team at the 2012 Olympics, he has entered into business deals with such companies as Hugo Boss, Under Armour and Jaguar Land Rover.

“I must have creative input with each of these partners, or it’s no deal,” Joshua said, as he inspected several other clothing items he had a hand in designing. “There are certain companies out there who think they can own you once they hire you, but that’s not the company I care to keep.”

His first fight this year will come against Ruiz, a brawler who has often been criticised for being out of shape on fight nights, so it is no surprise that Joshua is a considerable favourite.

“There is no fighter on this planet who can match Anthony’s overall boxing ability inside the ring and moneymaking potential outside of it,” said Cunningham, who accompanied Joshua, as did his entire entourage, on his visit to Hugo Boss.

Joshua insisted that his reception there did not bruise his ego, which, reasonably enough, can content itself with 8.9 million Instagram 

followers, working alongside Prince Harry for charitable causes, travelling by private jet, driving a brand-new Jaguar, wearing a $350,000 Audemars Piguet watch and often inspiring headlines in the British tabloids whenever he is spotted by the paparazzi.

“I have a four-to-five-year American plan,” Joshua said, as he tried on another jacket. “During that time, I will fight as often as I can in the United States, and I will put on such memorable performances that people here, or anywhere, will never forget my name.”

“I will be wearing all four of my belts when I step into the ring to fight Ruiz, and all four when I leave the ring that night,” said Joshua, his oversize grin reflecting in an undersized mirror he used to try on the new clothing.

© 2019 The New York Times