The award for “Prospect of the Year” was a wide open race, boxers from almost all divisions were named as possible candidates for the award, but after tallying up the votes from our staff, a winner was determined: 26-year-old British heavyweight Anthony Joshua who is 15-0 with 15 knockouts in his career.
Joshua had a stellar 2015 campaign, going (5-0, 5 KOs) defeating journeymen Jason Gavern and Raphael Zumbano Love, rugged veteran world title challenger Kevin Johnson, undefeated Gary Cornish, and rival from the amateurs Dillian Whyte.
Joshua is arguably the most hyped prospect in boxing and, to many, seems to be the next great heavyweight with his chiseled figure and immense punching power. He was pushed past three rounds for the first time in his young career and showed us that his power carries into the later rounds of fights.
Joshua, according to the fans, is the front-runner to take over the heavyweight division in the next five years, but he is still only a prospect and has a long way to go before he challenges for a world title. Joshua did get stunned in his last fight by Whyte with a solid left hook that had him on shaky legs; a possible cause for concern in the future against bigger and more proven power punchers.
Joshua is a part of a budding heavyweight division, and is the most highly touted and most recognizable prospect by far, along with Joseph Parker of New Zealand, who is a wrecking ball himself and was a candidate for this award.
Joshua is set to make his ring return in April 2016, meaning that he may be a two to three times a year fighter from now on after his last fight on PPV sold extremely well by UK standards. AJ is already a star in the sport, yet he is still a prospect and Thaboxingvoice’s “Prospect of the Year.”
**EDITOR’S NOTE**
Thaboxingvoice is a multiplatform news/entertainment outlet dedicated to bringing you regional, coast-to-coast, and international coverage from the boxing world. Although our twice weekly podcast elected to have its own award show, we at TBV have a dedicated and supremely knowledgeable staff with talents ranging in several areas of expertise. Thus, the following article is the representation of the staff dedicated to TBV’s website.
Some of the picks may not line up with those announced on TBV’s live radio show/podcast, this is both intentional and inevitable. The voting panel was made up of a completely different set of panelist compared to that of the show (with the exception of one voter). The voting process was comprised of a point system based on a multi-selection ballot.
