Team GB’s Performance Director for boxing Rob McCracken hailed last night a “fantastic win” for Anthony Joshua as the Finchley ABC fighter advanced to the quarter finals.

The Watford-born competitor was in action against Cuban Erislandy Savon – the nephew of three-time Olympic gold medallist Felix Savon – and progressed with a narrow winning score of 17-16.

Victory for the 22-year-old means he returns to the ring at London 2012 in the ExCel Centre on Monday when he meets Zhilei Zhang of China, who picked up the silver medal four years ago in Beijing.

And McCracken believes Joshua will have learnt much from his Olympic debut bout.

He explained: “Anthony Joshua is relatively still inexperienced – some could say an international novice, but a good novice. He is developing all the time.

“He will have learnt so much from last night and I thought he did really well. I had a brief chat with him this morning and he said he had plenty left in the engine and he wishes he’d thrown a few more punches.

“It was a really close bout, he nicked it and it is a great achievement for him. He will move on now to box the Chinese Olympic silver medallist from Beijing.”

McCracken also moved to stress what a good win this was for Joshua given the calibre of his opponent last night.

Speaking of Savon, McCracken added: “His movement was fantastic. He is tremendously talented – a tremendous athlete and fighter.

“What a fantastic win for Anthony Joshua who 18 months ago was a novice. He has moved forward in a massive way.

“Expectations maybe at times can be too high for someone with his experience, but he has embraced everything we have asked of him and he has taken it on. He believes in himself.

“He was a bit busier last night, he threw the punches and he wanted to win. He drew himself home and the crowd helped him as well.”