I’ve seen the future of heavyweight boxing. It’s a muscle-bound 25-year-old weighing 110kg and almost 2m tall.

On Saturday, Anthony Joshua, the reigning Olympic heavyweight champion, moved to 13-0 with a savage second-round stoppage of Kevin Johnson, an American who usually sticks around. The knockout told its own story, but the revelation about Joshua is that he already looks so accomplished. Despite his size – he truly is a super-heavyweight – he moves fluidly and has fast hands. The Londoner, who has Nigerian heritage, looks far more of a natural fighter than the Klitschkos, for instance, and has much better balance and rhythm than that other big Brit, Tyson Fury.

In heavyweight boxing, a fighter’s punch is secondary to another greater requirement: a rock-solid chin. We saw what happened to heavily-touted David Price when he was matched with a half-live opponent: his whiskers betrayed him.

We haven’t yet seen Joshua take a solid crack. The jury is still out on his chin, but instincts point to him already being among the best half dozen heavyweights on the planet.

It was desperate to see Kevin Mitchell unravel so badly in his third unsuccessful crack at a world title.

He had his moments against Jorge Linares, but was ultimately undone by a superior fighter whose razor-sharp punching banged Mitchell up and left his face a sorry mess.

There was no shame in defeat – he fought heroically until the bitter end – but you feel that his chance has now finally come and gone.