By Lyle Fitzsimmons

Anthony Joshua might have been OK with an easier ascension.

And following a classic 11th-round erasure of a gallant Wladimir Klitschko, the only questions still remaining ask just how high the now-three-belted champion might soar.

Though a 19th-straight blowout might have swelled the ranks of Joshua fans, the fact the ex-Olympic king had to meld mettle with his menace does far more to boost street cred with those charged with vetting potential global superstars.

He'd risen to prominence with punching power but appeared exhausted and out of ideas when Klitschko had the nerve to get off the floor and start responding with shots of his own. Then, just as it looked like Joshua would follow the crash-and-burn trail Mike Tyson ingloriously blazed against Buster Douglas, he found a reservoir of toughness reserved only for the special.

His trainer kept the faith throughout the storm.

"He got hit with the biggest punch in his career," Rob McCracken said. "But we knew he could regroup and if he stayed with me and listened to me I would get him through it. We have drilled him for 12 weeks he has hated it but I have been lucky – this is the stuff dreams are made of. His will to win and determination has been the most impressive thing for us. "

Joshua was already neck and neck with Deontay Wilder in charisma and titillation, but rallying from imminent demise to vanquish a future Hall of Famer – something the American WBC claimant hasn't yet approached – provides the sort of credibility jolt a thousand Eric Molinas walkovers never could.

"I'm not perfect but I'm trying," Joshua said. "I got a bit emotional because I know I have doubters. I'm only going to improve. Sometimes you can be a phenomenal boxer, but boxing is about character. When you go into the trenches that's when you find out who you really are.

"I came out and I won – that's how far I had to dig. I came back and I fought my heart out."

Don't believe it?

Take another listen to Showtime's breathless announce crew during the fight's most captivating moments or have another spin around social media – where the acclaim for Joshua's achievement remains nearly universal.

"Great fight, wonderful action, and the young buck got tested, overcame adversity," 97.3 ESPN FM radio host Richard Quinones posted to Facebook. "Baptism by fire is good for the soul. ... Welcome back heavyweight division! Joshua is a budding star!"

That penultimate sentence shows the trajectory of Joshua's would-be arc and the heavyweight division's alongside it. As holder of the IBF, IBO and WBA belts, he stands atop a standard-bearing weight class suddenly flush with a gaggle of unbeaten studs – Joshua, Wilder, WBO champ Joseph Parker, top WBA contender Luis Ortiz and ex-Klitschko conqueror Tyson Fury – packing 131 wins, 105 knockouts and an average age of 29.8 years.

Each believes he's the best man and seems anxious to prove it.

Wilder is working on a date with Parker and said before Saturday's fight that he wanted the winner before the end of 2017. Ortiz is the WBA's mandatory challenger and surely figures into the down-the-road championship mix. Fury is back in training and has already suggested he and Joshua get together in a match that could challenge the constraints of the Commonwealth's bandwidth.

"Good fight, you had life and death with Klitschko and I played with the guy. Let's dance," Fury tweeted soon after. "Challenge accepted. We will give the world the biggest fight in 500 years. I will play with you. You are a boxer's dream."

And with due respect to the 164 1/2-pounders who'll meet next weekend in Las Vegas, the swaggering heavyweight banter that ensued after the Wembley rumble has already eclipsed the "not until he admits I'm the A-side" grandstanding that's stained lower divisions for the last several years and recast the big men as boxing's most compelling weight class.

"Fury where you at, baby?" Joshua said in the ring. "I love fighting. Tyson Fury, I know he's been talking, I want to give 90,000 a chance (to see us). I just want to fight."

It's a breath of fresh air.

Joshua has been no stranger to expectation on his ride from prospect to gold medalist to champion and has shown no reason to expect he'll not handle the burden of being the sport's newest star.

He forcibly ended an era and kick-started a new one on Saturday, and subsequent months should include an announcement that'll begin spreading the word beyond comfortable home turf.

"We know he's got all the potential in the world and we believe the U.S. audience will find him very, very interesting," Showtime boxing boss Stephen Espinoza said. "Whether he's an all-time great remains to be seen, but he's certainly one of the most interesting fighters today."

* * * * * * * * * *

This week’s title-fight schedule:

SATURDAY
WBO heavyweight title -- Manukau City, New Zealand
Joseph Parker (champion/No. 6 IWBR) vs. Razvan Cojanu (No. 14 WBO/No. 83 IWBR)
Parker (22-0, 18 KO): First title defense; Eight KOs in 10 12-round victories (10-0, 8 KO)
Cojanu (16-2, 9 KO): First title fight; Fifth fight outside the United States (4-0, 4 KO)
Fitzbitz says: Parker has a chance to play a role in the heavyweight revolution, so you can bet there’s no chance he’ll lose to a guy who’s simply got no business in a world title fight. Parker in 4

Last week's picks: 3-1 (WIN: Mthalane, Nietes, Marrero; LOSS: Klitschko)
2017 picks record: 30-10 (75.0 percent)
Overall picks record: 852-284 (75.0 percent)

NOTE: Fights previewed are only those involving a sanctioning body's full-fledged title-holder – no interim, diamond, silver, etc. Fights for WBA "world championships" are only included if no "super champion" exists in the weight class.

Lyle Fitzsimmons has covered professional boxing since 1995 and written a weekly column for Boxing Scene since 2008. He is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Reach him at fitzbitz@msn.com or follow him on Twitter – @fitzbitz.