As the pandemonium finally calmed in the bowels of the national stadium, he considered what had gone on and posed a question to those with him. “Was it a good fight?”
Not half. This was one of the great heavyweight duels and arguably the best ever to take place on these shores.
Joshua continued to ask as if he was surprised to hear the response until it finally sank in as he sat there with his face swollen from a brutal, brave and epic battle that the world was talking about.
In just his 19th professional fight, he had picked himself off the canvas to beat one of the icons of the sport with an 11th-round stoppage to add the WBA title to his IBF belt.
And it was in stunning fashion in a thrill-a-minute brawl that brought the best out of both men and made Joshua the title of king of the heavyweight division – perhaps even Britain’s biggest sports star.
Anthony Joshua delivering the knockout blow to Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley
As the answer to his question began to sink in, Joshua called his mum Yeta and 18-month-son Joseph while he waited to give drug-testing officials his sample.
“I haven’t seen her yet but we FaceTimed straight away in the dressing room,” said Joshua. “I was getting my drug test at the time after the fight.
“My son JJ was with my mum while the fight was going on. I was speaking to my son who is 18 months and I could see he was looking at my eye and he went, ‘Wow’.”
Joshua sat around chatting with his team when he got back to the £30m rented house he stayed in for fight week in London until the early hours before a lie-in until the afternoon. It was a deserved rest.
Boxing has a bad habit of failing to match the pre-fight hype and the build-up to this was almost sickly even amid the respect, but the bout delivered in a venue synonymous with memorable sporting events.
The walls at Wembley are lined with pictures depicting those great events, from the 1966 World Cup final to more modern European Cup finals and the annual domestic trophies that are won and lost here.
This fight will join them as one of the best nights this venue has ever hosted, 90,000 fans playing their part in the spectacle while a record pay-per-view audience watched from home.
After a tentative opening, a fifth round that will live long in the memory sparked the fire that would burn through the rest of the fight as Klitschko hit the deck when Joshua cracked through with a right and a left hook.
The Ukrainian was back on his feet and somehow by the end of the round peppering Joshua with shots with Joshua seemingly having punched himself out.
And Joshua was off his feet in the sixth thanks to a perfect right hand that landed clean on his temple, and the script for the supposed anointment of the new heavyweight king was being hastily rewritten.
Wembley held its breath, but he slowly rose to his feet, checking his legs would hold his massive 6ft 6ins frame, before he stood up straight and matched Klitschko’s powers of recovery.
Anthony Joshua celebrates with his WBA, IBF and IBO heavyweight titles at Wembley
“Without that character and ability to go into the trenches, you’re never going to do great things in the sport,” said Joshua. “I don’t want to crumble, I will do whatever I need to do to come out on top.”
The next two rounds were back to Klitschko controlling the pace and Joshua, even though he was still recovering from his knockdown, was constantly telling Klitschko he would “whoop his a***e”.
It would be the 11th when he would prove good on his word as a huge right uppercut shot Klitschko’s head up in the air before a barrage of shots floored him not once but twice. One final pummelling forced referee David Fields to end it.
Was this the same Klitschko so brilliantly outfoxed by Tyson Fury 16 months ago, or was that night in Dusseldorf just a poor performance from the Ukrainian?
That is nothing for Joshua to be troubled by. He should not have to deal with the shadow of Fury as his fellow Briton remains well out of the picture.
“I can knock out anyone,” Joshua added in a clear warning to Fury, WBC champion Deontay Wilder and WBO title holder Joseph Parker, as well as any other brave challengers.
He is the reigning king of the heavyweights and, while he showed plenty of flaws in this enthralling contest, he will only be better for it too.
