Anthony Joshua Set for His Biggest Test to Date as He Heads into a New Phase

Anthony Joshua gets the chance to pick up the Commonwealth title on Saturday, the latest step on a road that the heavyweight prospect believes will lead to him eventually becoming a world champion.

Joshua is not alone in feeling he is destined to go all the way to the top.

His promoter, Eddie Hearn, wrote in his recent column for the Mail, "Everything in boxing is about building careers and finding paths—we are heading into a key, new phase for AJ [Joshua]. The real fun is about to begin."

The next phase starts with Gary Cornish, a giant of a Scotsman who boasts a 21-0 (12 KOs) record and is making good progress in the paid ranks.

The 28-year-old from Inverness is bigger (he stands at 6’7”, while Joshua is 6’6”) and has boxed plenty more rounds (93 compared to 24).

He may yet make an impression in the division himself, and a win on Saturday night at the 02 Arena in London would suddenly open doors. To date, though, he hasn't made a ripple in the heavyweight pool.

However, Cornish has never had the same hype, or the same level of exposure, as his next opponent.

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Joshua seemed to be destined for big things from the moment he won at the 2012 Olympics.

When he struck gold—albeit only after he survived an appeal by his Italian opponent, Roberto Cammarelle in the super heavyweight final—the course was set. He would build on his sudden fame by turning pro, knock out some overmatched big men in his early bouts and then head on up in pursuit of a world title.

So far, things are going according to plan. Joshua has 13 knockout wins under his belt, the last of them coming against American Kevin Johnson in May.

A comparison will obviously be drawn to Lennox Lewis, a gold medalist himself (for Canada, though) who went on to become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.

Lewis was at ringside to see Joshua triumph at the London Games. He was impressed, per Ben Dirs of BBC Sport, "Anthony showed heart and went big. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. When he decides to turn pro, he will be a great pro. He has the size to be the next world champion."

But the best-laid plans don’t always come to fruition. While Lewis is the poster boy for turning Olympic success into heavyweight domination, Audley Harrison is a stark example of how things don't always work out as you expected.

A-Force made history when he became the first British boxer to win gold in the super heavyweight division, a feat he achieved at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

He reeled off 19 straight victories after turning pro, but then the wheels came off in spectacular fashion.

Harrison went from a national hero to a running joke. He started being beaten, often badly and sometimes without throwing a punch.

He always insisted he would bounce back—only concerns over his health stopped him from carrying on long after his window of opportunity had closed.

However, there had been cracks in Harrison’s potential from the very outset. He was a boxer primed for the amateur game, capable of standing off and fighting at range. It is no fluke that his best results as a pro came in the Prizefighter series, an eight-man knockout tournament that involved three-round bouts.

Joshua, in contrast, seems to be wired the other way around. He has a brutal side behind the big smile, plus a willingness to learn and keep on improving.

Wladimir Klitschko has certainly been impressed by what he has seen, the current undisputed heavyweight champion lavishing praise on the 25-year-old. The Ukrainian told BBC Radio 5 live, "Anthony has all the tools to become that great champion inside and, most importantly, probably, outside of the ring.”

Klitschko’s endorsement just adds to the expectation that Joshua can go all the way. His shoulders are broad enough to be able to cope with the pressure.

Eventually, though, someone will ruffle his feathers in the ring. That could be Cornish this weekend, or perhaps Dillian Whyte later in the year.

Whyte fights on the same bill in London. He is one of the few who doesn't have a good word to say about his domestic rival, telling Sky Sports' Ringside In the Gym show, "I don't like the guy because he's fake and he puts on this demeanour that he's this and he's that."

Should both he and Joshua win their next outings, they will get to settle an old score that stretches back to their amateur days. Both have agreed to a bout in December when the British belt will be on the line.

It is an exciting time for Joshua—risks now have to be taken. That, though, is all part of what Hearn dubbed as the "new phase" in his career.

The time is right to find out if he has what it takes to follow in the footsteps of Lewis or instead ends up becoming bogged down at British and Commonwealth level, just like Harrison.

By the time 2016 comes around, there will be a better idea of exactly where Joshua is heading.