Anthony Joshua’s reputation as a knockout artist stretches back to his vested days.

The Watford powerhouse finished his amateur career with an excellent 48-3 record (18 KOs).

YouTube – KeysToSuccess101Joshua made quick work of his opponent[/caption]

In the unpaid ranks, where stoppages are far harder to come by, a 37.5 per cent KO rate is a very prolific statistic.

Among those stoppages, there are a fair few heavy knockouts.

And one of the most brutal ones came back in December 2009 in the quarter-finals of the English Novice Championships.

Earlier in the year, Joshua had won the Haringey Box Cup and entered the English Championships as a favourite.

In the quarters he was matched up against Reading’s Mohammed Sharif, who was undefeated at the time.

Graney footage of the fight shows Joshua sticking it on Sharif from the off before throwing him to the ground, resulting in a warning from the referee.

When the action resumes, Joshua gets straight back to work and scores a standing eight count.

Sharif meets the count and the contest continues only for Joshua to send him tumbling to the canvas with a barrage of clubbing blows moments later.

Joshua’s adversary tries to regain his footing but does a barrel roll in the process leaving the referee with no option but to wave off the fight.

Talking about the defeat in an interview with iFL TV five years later, Sharif said: “We were both undefeated at the time when we fought back in the day.

Joshua capped off his stellar amateur career with an Olympic gold medalGETTY

“He got the better of me but I was fighting at super heavyweight at the time.

“So every single person I was fighting was above six foot and I’m six foot myself.

“Like I say, the only loss I have was to him and now I’ve come down to cruiserweight at a professional level…

“In the amateurs when I lost to him I didn’t sleep for six months, I was devastated.

“So if I get the opportunity and I move up to heavyweight I’d fight him again definitely.”

Unfortunately for Sharif, it didn’t pan out that way.

While Joshua went on to become a two-time unified heavyweight champion after scooping Olympic gold at London 2012, Sharif retired from professional boxing in 2017 with a 5-5 record.