Sports Personality of The Year has been a prestigious prize running for over 60 years. Some of the biggest names in sport have won this prize however very few boxers have every been selected.
Joshua is the odds-on favourite to be named the BBC Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY), with the ceremony taking place in Liverpool on December 17. If the 28-year-old Englishman does win SPOTY, which is voted for by the public and has been handed out annually since 1954, he would become just the fifth different boxer (and sixth overall) to do so.
Cyclist Chris Froome and Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton are second and third favourites respectively.
Anthony Joshua has previously trained at the Sheffield Institute of Sports, which makes his raise fame even more big for the region.
The fact it is not an Olympic year has helped Joshua’s chances of winning SPOTY. On the 16 occasions the award has been held in an Olympic year, 12 of the winners have been Olympians. Each of boxing’s five victories, meanwhile, have been in non-Olympic years.
If Joshua does win, it will take boxing alongside tennis, and only behind Formula One and athletics, as the most the most prolific winning sport in SPOTY history.
Betway’s Insider Alan Alger said: “AJ is a very solid shot to be crowned this year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year, and it looks unlikely that Takam will put a spanner in the works. Even if Takam springs a surprise, it’s likely AJ would still remain favourite. The public won’t be forgetting his monumental victory over Wladimir Klitschko too quickly, and it’s that bout that cemented his place as SPOTY favourite.”
Boxing’s first SPOTY was Henry Cooper, who won the award in 1967, after the Englishman won all three of his fights that year, most notably against Jack Bodell at Molineux.