Dominant Joshua Wins World Heavyweight Title

British boxer Anthony Joshua has become the IBF heavyweight champion, securing a crushing knockout victory over his opponent within a matter of minutes.

Joshua won the title with two knockdowns in the second round at London's O2 Arena in what was only his 16th professional fight.

The victory over American Charles Martin means Joshua, Britain's current Olympic champion, holds the leading amateur and professional heavyweight titles.

"I ain't going to get too carried away," the 26-year-old said after stopping Martin 92 seconds into the second round.

"I've got to keep on improving. I've got David Haye calling me out, Tyson Fury calling me out.

"I need to improve if I'm going to maintain and keep pushing at a higher level."

Martin won the vacated belt in January, and this bout was his first defence.

But Joshua made light work of his opponent, inflicting on Martin the first loss of his professional career.

Martin made a brash arrival sporting a bejewelled crown, but his bravado was not matched between the ropes.

After being dropped by Joshua in the second round, Martin got back up but was immediately floored by another Joshua right.

This time, Martin did not beat the count.

All of Joshua's 16 wins since he made his professional debut in 2013 have been by knockout.

"I come to knock people out," the newly-crowned champion said. "It's about speed and precision."

The IBF title was won by Briton Tyson Fury against Wladimir Klitschko in November, but Fury was stripped of it for refusing to take on the IBF's mandated challenger.

Fury tweeted that Joshua "looked slow ponderous, & still looked like a bodybuilder, let me slay the lamb".

Joshua is the first boxer to win the world heavyweight title while being the reigning champion in Olympic boxing's top weight division of super-heavyweight.

Muhammad Ali was Olympic light-heavyweight champion when he beat Sonny Liston to become world heavyweight champion in 1964, in his 20th fight.