Anthony Joshua is a British professional boxer who’s still in his early boxing career, but already manages to put his name on the list of the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world. He has a very spectacular record of 18 wins with no defeats. What makes it more amazing is that all of Anthony Joshua’s victories are all in the way of knockout. It’s so hard to believe, but it’s a fact that was already written on many boxing books and magazines.

1. His full name is Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua and he is also famous by his nickname “AJ”.
2. He was born on October 15, 1989 (age 27) in Watford, Hertfordshire, England
3. Anthony Joshua is currently fighting under the heavyweight division.
4. He is 6 ft 6 in tall and has a reach of 208 cm.
5. Joshua is British but he was born to a Nigerian-born parents.
6. He has a tattoo on his right upper arm of Africa and Nigeria outlined.
7. Before Anthony Joshua decided to do boxing, he worked on a construction site by being a bricklayer.
8. Joshua played football and track before doing boxing.
9. He started his amateur boxing career in 2007 at the age of 18 because he was encouraged by his cousin Ben Illyemi.
10. Joshua’s career was almost stopped when he was arrested for possession of cannabis but only sentenced to a 12-month community order.
11. He won an Olympic Gold medal at the London Olympics in 2012 representing Great Britain.
12. Joshua was awarded a Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in the Queen’s New Year’s Honors in 2013 for his services to boxing.
13. He once beat Mo Farah in a 100m sprint on a TV show Superstars with a time of 11.53 seconds.
14. Joshua said that his favorite album is 50 Cent’s Get Rich or Die Tryin’.
15. He won all of his professional fights via knockouts and never experience defeat.
16. Joshua claims that in order for him to develop his tactical side of boxing, he plays chess and reads.
17. The longest fights he ever had was with Dillian Whyte in 2015 and Dominic Breazeale in 2016. It all ended on the 7th round via TKO.
18. Many of Joshua’s fights ended on just the 2nd.
19. Anthony Joshua currently holds the IBF heavyweight title. He previously held the British, Commonwealth, and WBC International heavyweight titles.
20. He is ranked as the world’s 5th best heavyweight boxer by The Ring magazine in June 2016.

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Golovkin is a very popular and talented boxer so it’s just right if we know him better by listing some interesting facts about him.

1. His full name is Gennady Gennadyevich Golovkin.
2. Although he is a Kazakhstani national, Golovkin is actually a half Korean. He was born to a Russian father and a Korean mother.
3. His last 21 opponents are defeated via knockout. So, basically Golovkin is now on a 21 fight KO streak.
4. Golovkin has never been knocked down or stopped even once on his amateur and professional career.
5. He can speak four different languages: Kazakh, Russian, German and English.
6. His two elder brothers were both killed while serving in the Russian army when he was still a kid.
7. Golovkin has the highest knockout ratio in the history of boxing at 90.9%. This record can be supported by his 33 knockouts out of his 36 wins and never been defeated.
8. He was based in Stuttgart, Germany before he decided to move to the USA in 2014 so that he can do his full training there.
9. He was the Ring Magazine’s fighter of the year in 2013.
10. Golovkin has a twin brother Max, an amateur boxer that is now helping him on his trainings.
11. He is now training in a gym in Big Bear, California with Abel Sanchez, his coach since 2012.
12. Golovkin is a very strong boxer but he once lost to a fighter who never turned pro. It was in the Athens Olympics in 2004 when the Russian middleweight Gaydarbek Gaydarbekov outscored him in a match but this boxer never turned pro unlike Golovkin.
13. He was only 10 years old when he started his amateur boxing career.
14. Because of his strong punches, he now struggles to find sparring partners the same as his size.
15. He is now fighting under the K2 promotions.

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Below are some of the important facts about Roman Gonzalez:

1. His complete name is Roman Alberto Gonzalez Luna. Born on June 17, 1987.
2. Gonzalez is the first boxer from Nicaragua to win 4 world titles in 4 weight classes. He first held the WBA minimum weight title from 2008 to 2010. Next was the WBA light flyweight title from 2011 to 2013. Then the lineal flyweight titles from 2014 to 2016. Now, he is currently holding the WBC super flyweight title since September 2016.
3. He has a very high knockout-to-win ratio of 83% that is why he is currently the top pound for pound boxer in the world by The Ring.
4. He started fighting as a professional boxer in 2005 and remains undefeated since then. Out of his 46 wins, 38 of those are by knockouts.
5. He loved to play soccer before he decided to do boxing.
6. Gonzalez’s family was so poor as he grew up that is why he was so different from the other kids on their area. Instead of playing with his friends, he had to sell pesticides together with his father.
7. He was married in 2009 to Raquel Doña but got divorced in 2011. They have 2 children that are living in Managua, Nicaragua.
8. He was hoping that his son would follow his footsteps and also become a boxer someday.
9. Gonzalez is publicly an open supporter of the FSLN political group in Nicaragua.
10. He is practicing Christianity and only fears God.
11. His favorite food is carne asada or grilled beef with plantain chips.
12. Gonzalez loves to collect Air Jordans and as a matter of fact, he currently owns 11 pairs of that type of sneakers.
13. Gonzalez would like to be a Christian pastor after he is through with boxing.
14. He loves to read anything about aliens during his free time.
15. Gonzalez also loves to ride roller coasters.

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To honor the greatness of Joe Frazier, we have prepared some interesting facts about him on and off the boxing ring.

1. Joe Frazier came from a poor family. His mother sometimes sold drinks to the people who will came to their house to watch boxing fights on TV.
2. His first punching bag is a bag filled with a lot of old clothing that he can found on their home.
3. Frazier’s nickname came from his coach who tells him to make his gloves smoke at the start of every fight.
4. He worked as a slaughter in Philadelphia before he became a boxer. That is the place where he sometimes practice boxing by punching the meats hanging in the refrigerated room.
5. Frazier love to eat seafood especially stewed crabs.
6. Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali may be rivals inside the boxing ring but certainly they don’t have any resentment with each other. In fact, Frazier was one of the petitioners when President Nixon banned Ali from boxing for three years.
7. He was the defender of his friends when being bullied during their childhood because of his strong built body.
8. Joe Frazier was really a great boxer but the world didn’t know much of his singing skills. He once sang with The Knockouts band and The Essential Band in different events.
9. Frazier won the gold medal in the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. But only a few people did know that he was only a substitute at that time. The original competitor was Buster Mathis.
10. Like Mike Tyson, Frazier was also featured in The Simpsons twice, in 1992 and 2006.
11. Frazier owned a boxing gym in Philadelphia before he sold it when he was diagnosed with diabetes and high blood pressure in 2009.
12. It was only in September 2011 when he knew that he has a cancer but it is already in advanced stage at that time.

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We have listed below some more interesting facts about Mike Tyson that you probably didn’t even know.

1. Mike Tyson won his first 19 fights as a professional boxer via knockout and 12 of them are during the first round only.
2. Tyson may be fit and muscular during his boxing days but during one of his interviews, he talked about him being overweight when he was still a child.
3. He was always being bullied as a kid thus results to his criminal activities. In fact, when he was still 13 years old, he had been arrested many times already.
4. He did a lot of sacrifices to become a champion including his avoidance from sex for 5 years because he believed that doing it before a fight can make him weak.
5. Tyson received an honorary doctorate in 1989 that was given by the Central State University.
6. Though Tyson won his first 19 professional fights, he came from 2 amateur losses and he said that these fuel him to become a champion.
7. He has a parody character in Simpsons named Drederick Tatum. They have some similarities with this Simpsons’ character.
8. He was the highest paid athlete in 1990.
9. During his fight with Holyfield in 1997, he bit Holyfield’s ear maybe because of extreme anger and frustration that makes him lost the match. This incident leaves a big mark on his career.
10. Tyson love pigeons and animals. In fact, he has 3 Royal Bengal Tigers and hosted an Animal Planet show about birds.
11. He had his last fight in 2005 with the Heavyweight champion Kevin McBride that he lost by a technical knockout.
12. Tyson was included in the WWE Hall of Fame.
13. His Islam name is Malik Abdul Aziz when he converted to Islam.
14. With his 3 marriages, Tyson have 3 children all in all.
15. He is now a boxing promoter.

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Below are some interesting facts about Floyd Mayweather Jr. that you might didn’t even know:

1. Floyd Mayweather may be one of the richest athletes today but he grew up in a poor and problematic family because of the involvement of his parents on illegal drugs.
2. He has big bodyguards protecting him all the time that is known as “The Great Wall”.
3. Floyd was the highest paid athlete in two consecutive years (2014 & 2015) according to Forbes.
4. He once fought in WWE in 2008 having Big Show as his opponent.
5. He lives in Las Vegas so he decided to have all his fights there.
6. Floyd’s fight with De La Hoya in 2007 generates about $136 million revenue.
7. Though he has “Pretty Boy” nickname, that doesn’t mean that he is also a good boy. In fact, Floyd was charged with a lot of domestic violence charges.
8. Mayweather doesn’t idolized fellow great boxers and instead, he is a big fan of successful businessmen.
9. Yes, Mayweather never tasted defeat as professional boxer but he once lost when he was still an amateur boxer in the 1996 Olympic Semifinals to Bulgaria’s Serafim Todorov.
10. Justin Bieber is training boxing with Floyd.
11. Floyd collects a lot of expensive watches and even named them uniquely.
12. Because his big bodyguards are always with him anywhere he goes to, he needs to charter separate jet for them when they travel to keep the weight on his private jet.
13. He doesn’t wear the same underwear twice.
14. He reportedly spent $100,000 in a one strip club visit.
15. Mayweather was the National Golden Gloves champion for three years (1993, 1994, and 1996).
16. He has a habit of betting on a sporting event like in an NBA game.
17. Floyd is already very rich but his favorite food remains the same, fried hotdogs with barbecue sauce.
18. He has a lot of critics and haters but we cannot hide his generosity as he help families in Decatur District of Las Vegas build homes.

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Do you think that you already knew a lot about Manny? I bet that you still don’t know these facts about him that I will enumerate below.

1. Manny Pacquiao wanted to be a priest when he was still a child but didn’t pursue it because of poverty. Instead, he pursued boxing.
2. Young Manny used to imitate the moves of Bruce Lee after watching one of his movies. He did this by punching and kicking a banana tree near his house.
3. He used to sell various goods when he was 13 in the streets of General Santos City.
4. The first boxing match that Manny watched on TV was the Douglas VS Tyson fight in Tokyo in 1990 which Tyson lost.
5. The first boxing area for the young Manny Pac quiao is the Oval Plaza Park where he used to do sparring sessions with the other kids around and some of those are way much bigger than him.
6. Manny Pacquaio is penniless when he first went to Manila that he just hitch a ride in a small boat to go there.
7. He had a very tough life in Manila that if he had nothing to eat, he would wash restaurant dishes in exchange for foods.
8. His first boxing trainer is Ben Delgado, a gym owner in Sampaloc.
9. Manny’s mother Dionesia Pacquiao used to be “labandera” or a laundrywoman that is why Manny sometimes miss school just to help her with her work.
10. He is very notable in Philippines that he has its own postage stamp dedicated to him.
11. Manny had to cheat about his age and weight to qualify for the Blow by Blow because that tournament requires 100 pounds weight and an 18 year old age limit.
12. As of now, Manny is providing educational scholarships to 250 children through his charitable foundation.
13. Manny first met his wife Jinkee in a mall in General Santos City working as a beauty consultant for skin care products. His friend Reynaldo Jamora was the one who introduced him to her.
14. Pacquiao currently have 5 children.
15. He started his professional boxing career at the age of 17.
16. Manny’s first loss in his professional boxing career was in 1996 to a fighter named Rustico Torrecampo. Some said that this was because of his penalty to meet the weight requirement before the fight so the officials gave him heavier gloves than his opponent.
17. He also starred in several films in Philippines.
18. He was ranked as the No. 11 World’s Highest Paid Athletes by Forbes in 2014 with $41.8 million.
19. Pacquiao also plays professional basketball in Philippines.
20. He is always carrying a bible on his trainings.

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Below are the 4 basic punching techniques that you should learn first:

1. Jab

A jab is a weak punch but is very effective on keeping your opponent away. The opponent cannot counter this punch most of the time because of its quickness thus making it more effective even it doesn’t have much power. The purpose of a jab is to measure the distance of the opponent so that you can prepare for much stronger punch. It is also used to test the opponent’s defense and set for stronger punches. For those who have strong jabs, this can be used also to weaken the defense of the opponent. So that there is a chance that your next punch will be a clean hit.

You can do a jab by extending your lead hand forward from the defensive position. The hand and torso should rotate in and down. Pull back the hand after the jab landed and back on your defensive stance. Do this repeatedly to familiarize how it is done.

2. Cross

After the jab, the next punch you should master is the cross. It is part of the one two combination meaning a jab and then a cross combination. The cross is a straight punch thrown with the back hand from the stance position. While throwing the back hand, the lead hand should be on a guard position to defend a possible counter punch from the opponent. Then the torso should rotate counter-clockwise and transfer your body weight on your rear foot. Same with the jab, pull back your hand after the shot landed and back at your defensive stance. This type of punch is the most effective because it travels in a straight line so it will hit the opponent quicker and stronger.

3. Hook

Hook is a very destructive type of punch if being mastered and executed correctly. Execute it by throwing your lead hand in a curve angle aiming to land at the opponent’s side. Same with the other punching techniques, it also requires you to turn your torso and the rear hand stays in a defensive position. Because this punch is too strong and is aiming to hit a critical part of the body, a single hook is capable of knocking down an opponent immediately or if not this will surely leave a critical damage to the opponent.

4. Uppercut

An uppercut is also a destructive punch if being thrown correctly but also very risky to execute. If you’ll ask why, simply because if it doesn’t hit the opponent there will be a wide open space to your body that the opponent can easily hit for a counter. So you should put on your mind that if you cannot end the opponent with your uppercut, it is possible that it will be your end also.

Uppercut is thrown by using the rear hand from a defensive stance then rotating your shoulder and upper body upward. Bend your knees to have a better position of hitting the opponent’s chin. This will outbalance the opponent so that you can prepare and shot a stronger punch for a finishing blow.

All these punches can be mastered through multiple times of repeated practice. Always remember to punch together with your body especially the shoulders and torso. Rotate the body then punch.

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1. Reduced stress

It was already proven than any form of exercise can reduce stress same with boxing. Also through boxing, you can release all your frustrations and anger by throwing punches to the punching bag. Trust me, it will be a lot better after. Don’t stop until you are feeling okay.

2. Improve hand-eye coordination

Hand-eye coordination is a very important aspect on every person’s physical coordination. It will be the basis of a person’s reflexes and reaction time. Improving it is so important especially during aging because reflexes are the first to slow down as a person gets old. Boxing will help you a lot to improve your hand-eye coordination. All the trainings and workouts designed for boxing are for improvement of your body coordination. Though it’s tough for the first time, it will be easier through time of intense practice and it will certainly be worth it.

3. Total body strength improvement

Boxing workouts will improve your total body strength without you knowing. Even little drills like pushups and squats can already build so much muscle strength on you. So the next time you hit the gym for some boxing lessons, never think of missing the basic drills.

4. Improve cardiovascular endurance

Cardiovascular endurance means the ability of your heart, lungs and blood vessels to deliver enough oxygen to your body. Through boxing, your heart will always be exercised to cope up with your intense training. It will certainly improve your cardiovascular endurance and you will certainly have a stronger heart. This will prevent you from having any heart related problems.

5. Weight Loss

One hour of boxing workout is proven to burn at least 550 calories depending on the intensity level of workout you are doing. So it will certainly help you achieve that fit body you are always dreaming of.

6. Self-defense

Boxing is a combat sport and it will certainly teach you some street fighting techniques that you can use in case you are in trouble. It can be use as a self-defense but be sure that you will not become a person that will start a fight just to boast your boxing skills. You have to maintain humbleness and stay out of trouble.

7. Help build strong bones and muscles

The boxing drills and workouts will certainly build strong muscles in your body. It can also improve the strength of your bones. The effect of boxing is just the same with lifting weights at the gym. The only difference is that on boxing you are not just lifting weights, you are also improving your total body coordination.

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Below are the common possible mistakes that an amateur boxer can make. These mistakes may apply also to those boxers that are not an amateur already but are still lacking in skills on this sport.

• Throwing strong punches early on the training – Although boxers are considered great if they can throw strong punches but it is a mistake if you are still a beginner. Because as a beginner, you are still on a process of familiarizing the timing of your punches and how to throw it correctly. There is a possibility of you having an injury if you will do this mistake and it will certainly ruin your dream to be a boxer.
• Overemphasizing on the boxing preparations – Yes, jogging, doing jumping rope and other boxing warm-ups to prepare for a boxing fight is good but too much of it is already inappropriate. Doing too much of these exercises will lead to fatigue that will affect your performance on the actual fight. These will also lead to some injuries.
• Too much training – Over training will also affect a boxer’s performance. It can slow down a boxer’s speed and it can also cause an injury. The correct training should be until the capacity of your body. Rest when you are tired or something is aching already.
• Hesitation – Never hesitate to throw a punch to your opponent because it will serve as a window of opportunity for him to counter your punches. You will never win a bout when you will always hesitate.
• Drinking too much water during workout – It is very important to be hydrated during workouts but again, too much water will leave your stomach bloated and it will really be difficult for you to move or much worse, you will suffer an abdominal pain. The right thing to do is to take just a little amount of water during workout enough to dampen your mouth. Just take the amount of water that you want after your training.
• Focusing the practice only on punches – Though boxing is a sport of punching, you should not focus only on practicing how to punch. Remember, boxers are not just throwing punches on the ring. They are also dodging, running and etc. So better balance your time on practicing the different skills that you should have on boxing.
• Forgetting the basics – You should never forget the basics of boxing in the process of improving your skills. These basics are the most important fundamentals of all. You will never improve if you will forget these.

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