There is an ancient axiom in the business of boxing and it came to mind as I watched Anthony Joshua dispose of Charles Martin from my privileged ringside seat on Saturday night. It goes something like this: "You can only beat the man in front of you."
Joshua never took a punch, barely took a breath before two clinical, precise and devastating rights sent Martin to heavyweight oblivion after just four minutes and 52 seconds of a mismatch at the O2.
Martin was the lucky man in the right place last year when he was nominated from obscurity to fight for the vacant IBF title and in January his luck continued when his opponent, who was the favourite, injured his knee and retired in the third round. On Saturday night at a frenzied O2 his luck ran out, but not before he pocketed something in excess of $5 million.
Joshua was the right man in the right place when it was obvious in February that Martin was boxing's weakest link and the rest, as they say, is now boxing history. Joshua is the new IBF heavyweight champion after just 16 fights and, more importantly, it took about three seconds for him to be universally declared the saviour of a division that has slipped from the mainstream.
The heavyweight division has been staging a renaissance since Deontay Wilder won the WBC title in early 2015 and that revival continued last November when Tyson Fury beat Wladimir Klitschko for the WBA, WBO and IBF belts. Both Wilder and Fury are big characters, a delightful antidote to the dull brilliance of the Klitschko brothers. Fury is, make no mistake, the real heavyweight champion, the proper champion and that is something that too many people are overlooking.
However, one of sanctioning bodies decided to act like the fools they all are and in December stripped Fury of the IBF belt and created the window of insanity that allowed Charles Martin to become a world heavyweight champion. Joshua did, trust me, restore a degree of sense, but the fact remains that his victory is tarnished by the greed and stupidity of the men that run the sanctioning bodies.
Martin never landed a blow, seemed unable to throw a punch and Joshua clearly let him survive a round before stepping in and delivering the right hands in round two. Martin needs to look carefully at the outstretched hands this morning and wonder just why exactly he is paying anybody after such a pathetic team performance. It is a marvel that so many clowns attached to boxers can hold their heads up high after such calamities.
It was a night of routine wins in many ways, but there was still enough blood and guts to satisfy the old and the new that filled the arena to capacity and made it all feel a bit special.
Lee Selby and Jamie McDonnell kept their world titles in two largely forgettable fights. McDonnell started as a 1-80 betting favourite and he forced Fernando Vargas to quit in round nine of their WBA bantamweight fight. Selby won a bad-tempered decision over Eric Hunter to retain his IBF featherweight belt. Selby was not at his best.
George Groves stopped Dave Brophy with a body shot in round four of a fight that made no sense; Brophy was in far too deep. In the middleweight fight to determine the futures of both Matt Macklin and Brian Rose there was, as expected, too much pride. Macklin nicked a tight decision and admitted at the end he will have to think about his future; it was hard and at times difficult to watch.
The son of Nigel Benn needed just 127 seconds to bludgeon Ivailo Boyanov and move to one win as a professional boxer. It was all good clean fun for Conor Benn and his father and the pair performed a lovely little dance in the ring after the fight. This is a nice sideshow that will run and run.
It was a long night that ended in glory for Joshua and delight for his flock, many of whom believe he is the only world champion. Joshua would be a sensational prospect in any era but we need to remember that Martin could only ever be a champion in this era.