Now the real fights will happen for Anthony Joshua after Charles Martin sideshow, writes Steve Bunce

Joshua, as the worn axiom insists, can only beat the man in front of him and he did so in smooth style without the emotional clatter of his slugfest last December with Dillian Whyte

Anthony Joshua celebrates his IBF title win over Charles Martin (Getty)

It took Anthony Joshua 292 seconds to end the 94-day reign of the luckiest heavyweight champion in the tainted, glorious and greedy history of the sport.

Charles Martin started to box to get rich, which he achieved on Saturday night at the O2 when he was gifted $5million dollars for his convenient part in Joshua's rise. Martin entered the ring as the 13th IBF heavyweight champion since the troubled sanctioning body muscled in on the boxing game back in 1983; he left the ring as their worst champion.

Joshua entered the ring camouflaged in a flowing white robe that was both regal and light; Martin ambled through his ringwalk wearing a tacky crown that resembled the top prize from a loyalty award scheme at Burger King. A glance at his soft belly and tiny shorts appeared to confirm reports that Martin's training regime had involved several battles with the fridge.

It looked like Martin's snug shorts had been made to fit his desired weight, but were instead left packed and bulging from an inability to curb his desires for food. It was just another tiny rumour during the days before the fight that added further insult to his shameful collapse.

However, there was no deceit involved, no dark arts in play to transform a fighter like Martin from the underwhelming periphery to main attraction last Saturday. It was strictly business because of a moral loophole in the boxing world that allows any fighter, with connections, to get a shot at the main prize in a sport where you get what you negotiate and not what you deserve. Martin's people - a swollen grinning troupe before the fight - secured him the riches but disgracefully failed to prepare him for the fight.

Martin fought scared, seemed stunned by Joshua's size and tried a few empty lunges that missed any target. When a fighter has a dozen men in the ring with him at the start, all holding up something and wearing the team track suits, he is entitled to expect guidance. On Saturday the same men that gloried in their fighter's good fortune in January were horribly exposed when their man skipped about like a clueless novice. He took the punishment and he now has to pay them all for their wasted holiday in London. Martin should never have been the IBF heavyweight champion and these people should never have been under the championship neon.

A brief history of the IBF belt's trajectory from Tyson Fury's waist last November to Joshua's hands on Saturday is ridiculous. Fury had it taken from him so that an unknown Ukrainian called Vyacheslav Glazkov could fight Martin, who was handpicked, for the vacant title. In January they met, Glazkov was reluctant in a poor fight before he twisted his knee and quit in round three. Unknown Martin was the IBF's heavyweight champion and the word was out to the boxing world: the belt is for sale, get your chequebook out.

Anthony Joshua demolished Charles Martin in two rounds (Getty)

Joshua, as the worn axiom insists, can only beat the man in front of him and he did so in smooth style without the emotional clatter of his slugfest last December with Dillian Whyte. On Saturday, Joshua adjusted his feet in the second round found a slot for his right fist and twice sent Martin down heavily. Martin tried to claim he mistimed the final count of ten and that was a small blessing - had he been alert he would have been knocked out cold with the next punch. His reign, the second shortest ever for a heavyweight, started with him being an innocent man in the right place at the right time, and ended in embarrassing exposure.

Joshua is a willing hero, a role-model with a story to tell about drugs, gangs and how he came so close to a life of crime and punishment. He stood before us on Saturday, just a step in front of his gathered cornermen, resplendent in the flowing white gown and there was a real sense of his entitlement attached to his ambitions; he has looked made or carved for greatness for a long time, a contender in any era.

The Martin sideshow was the start for Joshua and now the real fights will surely happen, probably after a return to the O2 this summer for an easy defence. Tyson Fury is the real heavyweight champion, a man called Deontay Wilder is a danger, David Haye has the speed to trouble him and Alexander Povetkin has the brains. Joshua is in the mix.

On Saturday night Martin was sacrificed at the IBF's alter of absurdity and hopefully it will be a long time before another Charles Martin makes a mockery of the heavyweight title. However, some of the bold claims made on behalf of Joshua seem as excessive as Martin was pathetic and in time the big lads will sort it out.

Keep an eye on Spence Jr

This Saturday in Brooklyn, New York, a fighter called Errol Spence Jr will move closer to being the man that follows in the footsteps of Floyd Mayweather as one of the sport's main attraction.

Spence Jr fights Chris Algieri, who has lost on points to both Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan, knowing that a stoppage win changes the current boxing landscape. Last weekend Pacquiao beat Timothy Bradley in Las Vegas and is now threatening to quit for good and that leaves an even bigger commercial hole for the unbeaten Spence Jr to fill.

Errol Spence celebrates his win over Alejandro Barrera in November (Getty)

The transient nature of modern fighters means that boxers from above and below the welterweight limit will watch as Spence Jr moves ever closer to becoming a future pay-per-view attraction. There are still enough old-timers left for him to beat during what could be a very entertaining few years, a period of domination.