5 Shockers from Anthony Joshua vs Alexander Povetkin boxing thriller

Anthony Joshua went into his clash with Alexander Povetkin as the reigning IBF, IBO, WBA (Super) and WBO Heavyweight Champion of the world, and much like what the myriad of combat sports experts the world over had predicted, "AJ" walked out with his titles intact.

Nevertheless, while the vast majority of fans and experts alike predicted Joshua's fight against Povetkin to be nothing more than a walk in the park for the hulking British Heavyweight, Povetkin--the wily Russian veteran--had other plans. Bear in mind that this contest was anything but predictable once the heavy-hitters began swinging leather with bad intentions.

"Sasha" managed to outfox Joshua in the initial phase of this matchup, and although the contest seemed to be befuddling on the surface--particularly with Povetkin finding the mark time and again--now that most of us have had the opportunity to re-watch the fight, the combat world seems to be picking up several intricate details that'll most likely be missed if you happen to be nothing more than a casual observer.

Regardless, we are now going to be looking at a few rather shocking details from Anthony Joshua vs. Alexander Povetkin, and the facts that managed to slip under the radar in this thrilling pugilistic contest!

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#5 Deontay Wilder licking his chops

Deontay Wilder plans on destroying Tyson Fury later this year and knocking out Anthony Joshua in 2019

Firstly, this writer won't be the one to encourage you to check out AJ nemesis, Deontay Wilder's social media accounts right now. No way!

However, the fact remains that Wilder is likely to be more than excited after scouting Anthony Joshua in the latter's fight with Alexander Povetkin. Now, Povetkin managed to ding Joshua with a beautiful right uppercut in Round 1 of the fight...Truth be told--it wouldn't be an overstatement by any means, to say that had "Sasha" landed that strike on any other elite Heavyweight, the man on the receiving end of the thunderous blow would wake up to smelling salts, staring at the lights.

Well, Joshua's knees buckled courtesy the right uppercut-hook combination from Povetkin, with said uppercut being the bigger blow. And it's indeed the former's incredible physicality that prevented him from tasting the canvas like he did against Wladimir Klitschko. Expounding upon the same, Joshua's clumsy start against the much-smaller Povetkin is nothing but bad news for AJ against someone who's known to be a fast-starter like Wilder...Well, provided that Wilder gets past Tyson Fury later this year...

#4 Povetkin's critical error with regard to Anthony Joshua's nose

Anthony Joshua's nose was targeted repeatedly by Alexander Povetkin

It's no secret that Alexander Povetkin found a home for several beautiful jabs, hooks, overhands and uppercuts in Rounds 1 and 2, however, upon seeing that he'd busted up Anthony Joshua's nose, the former made a rather horrifying error of over-committing to his strategy of attacking AJ's nose.

I'd like to hark back to a rather unpopular example over here, that being Conor McGregor landing the lead uppercut repeatedly in his pro-boxing debut against all-time-great Floyd Mayweather Jr. last year. Despite landing a crisp lead uppercut early in the matchup, McGregor's strike was continually either parried or rolled with on part of Mayweather.

Nevertheless, McGregor kept over-committing to the lead uppercut and needless to say, Floyd began timing the Irishman and the latter subsequently turned into a punching bag courtesy the repeated left hooks and straight-right counters Mayweather hit him with in response to the lead uppercuts. Povetkin made a similar error against Joshua--something which AJ picked up on very swiftly from Round 3 onward...

#3 Fight like the smaller man: The Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield playbook

Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield possessed great in-fighting skills

Boxing legends Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield weren't particularly big for the Heavyweight division during their respective primes. While Holyfield did stand at 6'1", Tyson is said to be barely 5'9" or 5'10" at the most.

In comparison to the aforementioned legends, Alexander Povetkin stands at 6'2", whereas Anthony Joshua is a towering 6'6". Now, Tyson and Cruiserweight-turned-Heavyweight Holyfield, almost always gave up size to their foes in the division of giants...Regardless, both Tyson and Holyfield added excellent in-fighting techniques to their combat arsenal, so as to enable them to beat their larger and longer opponents up on the inside.

Povetkin is a good fighter at close range, however, what truly shocked fans of the Russian phenom is that he showed absolutely no signs of his famed close-range boxing skills. And this isn't merely down to Joshua being a strong unit and preventing his foe from doing so, but rather on Povetkin's strange tactic of jumping into close range, only for him to spam the left hook time and again rather than clinching up, dirty-boxing, and then separating from the bigger guy...

#2 Danny Garcia, Shawn Porter and why multiple weapons are better than one

Danny Garcia was out-smarted by Shawn Porter's vast array of punches

Much like the recent Welterweight showdown which saw Shawn Porter edge out a close decision over Danny Garcia for the vacant WBC title, Anthony Joshua vs. Alexander Povetkin saw an eerily similar error made by the losing fighter.

Garcia's famed left hook and Porter's shotgun of a right hand were regarded as both fighters' respective weapons coming into their WBC title clash, however, come fight night, Porter utilized almost every punch in the book to befuddle Garcia. While the latter did have his moments in the fight--to the extent of even catching Porter with double left hooks in quick succession--Porter's diverse attack kept Garcia guessing as to what direction the strikes are coming from.

As previously noted, Povetkin got a little to eager upon seeing Joshua bleed through his nose, and began spamming wild, leaping left hooks that AJ saw coming from a mile away. Furthermore, Povetkin inexplicably abandoned his jab as well as the overhand in favor of...well, the left hook! Joshua's corner noted the same, and the Englishman kept reading his foe in Rounds 3 and 4--hoping to eventually time and sleep the wild Russian...

#1 Anthony Joshua: The Mystic

Anthony Joshua is one of the most underrated minds in boxing today

To paraphrase what Anthony Joshua said after defeating Joseph Parker in a 12-round shut-out decision earlier this year--"The right hand will take you around the block, but a good jab will take you around the world."

Honestly speaking, that's something most boxing trainers would teach you in the rookie year of your training. Well, generally, be it anything in life, a solid foundation with the basics always helps you no matter what conundrum you happen to find yourself in. Speaking of which, one of the biggest turning points of this boxing war, was when Joshua snapped Povetkin's head back with a power jab in Round 5!

While most in the combat sports community seem to be crediting the incredible body-head-head combination Joshua landed to drop Povetkin in Round 7 as the watershed moment of the fight, that couldn't be further from the truth. Joshua's power jab in the 5th is what truly turned the tables in favor of the defending champion.

Joshua began finding the mark with his jab consistently in Round 6, and come the 7th stanza of the fight, AJ went for the kill. Joshua dropped Povetkin with a combination which was topped off with a huge right hand; almost sending the latter out the ring through the ropes...Povetkin, to his credit, beat the count; only to eat a hellacious barrage of punches from Joshua before the fight was called off.

The right hand can take you around the block, but a good jab will take you around the world! "AJ" Anthony Joshua truly is a mystic of sorts.