ANTHONY JOSHUA RALLIES TO SCORE 7TH-ROUND TKO OF ALEXANDER POVETKIN IN HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE TILT

BY THE RING

LONDON — Anthony Joshua appeared to be in some trouble.

The champion’s nose was spewing blood. His chin was catching leaping left hooks and overhand rights from his 39-year-old opponent, a man believed to present little challenge to the best heavyweight in the world.

With the bout halfway over, Povetkin was in control. Until he wasn’t. A pulverizing left hook turned the tide in the seventh, and Joshua made certain there wouldn’t be another round. Povetkin was out on his feet before the Brit dropped him with a left hook followed by a straight right hand. The Russian displayed great courage to collect himself — he almost crashed through the ropes as pulled himself vertical — but it was all for naught.

The same combination, this time set up by a right hand to the body, ended matters at 1:59 of Round 7, whipping the hometown crowd of 80,000 plus into a frenzy Saturday at the chilly, rainy outdoor Wembley Stadium.

“I realized he was strong to the head, but I know that he was weak to the body,” said Joshua, The Ring’s No. 1 heavyweight. The fight was the first one streamed on fledgling streaming service DAZN, a platform that is investing heavily in the sport through its partnership with Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn.

“So instead of jabbing to the head I was just switching up and every jab takes a second of breath out of you; it slows him down. It could have taken seven, maybe nine, maybe 12 rounds to get him out of there but the ultimate goal was to be victorious tonight.”

Joshua (22-0, 21 knockouts) remains the king of the heavyweight division, and moves on to the finals of what amounts to a de facto heavyweight tourney. The other half of the equation came into focus less than 24 hours earlier when it was announced that Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury — both of whom own claims to the heavyweight throne — will meet December 1 Stateside.

“(Wilder and I) both done a lot of talking,” said Joshua, 28. “Look, I’m not into the blame game. It was him, it was me, tit for tat. We both done a lot of talking. And I’m here now. I had a good fight. I got my knockout streak back. I found my right hand. It went missing for a little while. I found it and it’s lining up April 13.”

That’s when Joshua will return to Wembley for another heavyweight championship defense, and the hope is that he’ll face whoever emerges between Wilder and Fury. For a while, it seemed we’d be treated to Joshua-Wilder on this September night. There were heated talks over the summer, but weeks of dragged out negotiations didn’t produce the mega fight. Instead, Joshua elected to face his mandatory.

Povetkin (34-2, 24 KOs) wasn’t a sexy opponent, but he was a worthy challenger, despite the significant size gap (Joshua outweighed the Russian by more than 23 pounds and owned four-plus inches in height.) Like Joshua, Povetkin is an Olympic gold medalist, and he entered the bout rated No. 3 by The Ring.