A tad premature, I suggested. And I was right. Anyone who placed a bet then would have done their dosh on Josh.

How on earth could he already be in pole position with the Olympics still to come, Andy Murray in hot pursuit of his second Wimbledon and Olympic titles - and what about Welsh footballer Gareth Bale and his inspirational performances for Real Madrid and for Wales in the European Championships? Not to mention the British challenge of Chris Froome in the Tour de France?

It seemed a stupidly prescient slap in the face for Britain’s many gold medal prospects for Joshua to be accorded top slot in the odds before they have had the opportunity to strut their stuff in Rio.

And what about Joshua’s golden-gloved companion of 2012, Nicola Adams?

She had recently secured the last remaining major title to elude her after being crowned women’s world flyweight champion in Kazakhstan.

The 33-year-old’s victory meant she would head to Rio as the reigning Olympic, World, Commonwealth and European Games champion, having also won European and EU golds previously.

Moreover, if she won again the effervescent assassin from Leeds would become the first British boxer to retain an Olympic championship since the middleweight Harry Mallin, a London police constable, in 1924, 92 years ago.

And she duly did.

Now, I am not being sexist when I say that fantastic as Nicola’s achievement is, it does not quite equate to Mallin’s back-to-back golds in 1920 and 1924.

Those were much tougher days for aspiring Olympians. They were austere times following the Great War.

Mallin did not have the luxury of state-of-the-art training camps, full time coaching and Lottery funding. He worked full time pounding the east London streets as a beat bobby.

He also had to endure several more bouts on his way to the Olympic finals than the four Nicola did for hers.

Having said all that, which I am sure Adams would acknowledge, hers nonetheless is a truly remarkable and historic achievement.

She may not win SPOTY which now has at least 30 worthy contenders for its shortlist, but she is certainly a serious contender with her winning smile and winning ways.

She already has my vote for Sportswoman of the Year in the annual Sports Journalists' Association poll.

Our new Prime Minister Theresa May, though not renowned as a sports buff, promises there will be gongs galore for GB’s glorious Olympians. One hopes they will not all be reserved for those atop the medal podium because there were some silver threads among the golds.

Like boxing’s super-heavyweight star Joe Joyce, mugged by judges rather than his French opponent, and taekwondo’s Lutalo Muhammad, cruelly deprived of what seemed certain gold by one tenth of a second.

Not forgetting the breathtaking silver won by Bryony Page, the first ever British medal winner on the trampoline, and Sophie Hitchon who won Britain’s first Olympic medal in the hammer for 92 years?

Altogether in GB’s record-breaking Rio there were 27 gold medal winners.

Most Olympic winners receive an MBE at least in the next Honours List and this time some may get considerably more.

Will it be arise Sir Mo and Sir Andy, or even Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, who, if the apparently gong-ho Mrs May is so inclined, could be offered an honorary knighthood as a member of the Commonwealth?

There is growing speculation that Adams will confirm her status as the fight game’s first lady by becoming a Dame.

"In the red corner, Dame Nicola Adams". That certainly has a ring about it, so to speak.

It would make her the female equivalent to boxing’s only figure of similar status, Sir Henry Cooper.

It is five years since Sir Henry passed away and even now his name remains bracketed with the left hook that put the then Cassius Clay on the seat of his pants in 1963. But Our ‘Enry wasn’t just a lethal counter puncher in the ring. He could be pretty sharp with the verbals too.

When debating on BBC radio with the noted abolitionist and Labour MP Dr Edith Summerskill whether boxing should be banned, she demanded of him: “Mr Cooper, have you looked in the mirror today and seen the state of your nose?”.

Cooper responded: “Yes madam, but boxing is my excuse - what’s yours?”

I still consider that one of the best knock-out blows he ever delivered.

The late and much loved Sir 'Enry was knighted in 2000, although not solely for boxing, but also for his services to charity.

He remains boxing’s only Knight of the Square Ring.

Traditionally, most Olympic boxing gold medallists and pro world champions get civil honours pinned to their lapels. But some have had to fight for it.

The late Terry Spinks won Olympic flyweight gold in 1956 but never received an award at the time - though team-mate Dick McTaggart, the lightweight winner did, and admitted his embarrassment at Spinks’ omission.

Terry had to wait another 46 years before an MBE came his way in 2002, ten years before his death at 74 and only because of a long campaign by family and friends.

He was never given a reason for the delay, though some believed it was because he may have been on nodding terms with the Krays.

Amir Khan still remains un-gonged despite his achievement as a 17-year-old when he won Olympic silver in Athens in 2004 as Britain’s lone ring ranger, and his immense contributions to charitable causes and community relations both in time and money. He seems to have been disgracefully snubbed by the gong-givers, yet is such a fabulous ambassador for sport.

As, indeed, is Adams, an iconic figure and a pugilistic pioneer hugely responsible for the establishment and surge in popularity of women’s boxing in this country both as a participant sport and a vehicle for boosting physical fitness. She also had the courage to come out as bisexual.

I hope she gets the missive from Downing Street inviting her to the Palace.

And who knows, although Jess Ennis-Hill CBE just failed to defend her heptathlon title she could find herself upgraded to a ‘D’ for her services to sport.

It was good to see Ennis-Hill giving it a real go. In my view one positive innovation the International Olympic Committee (IOC) could make is to invite all Olympic champions in all disciplines to automatically defend their titles, if available and should they so desire, without having to qualify for selection.

However that might seem far too radical - or popular - a proposal for the IOC, whose own shambolic shortcomings, like those of Rio’s Organising Committee, were fortunately overshadowed by the athletic glories of the Games for which all of Britain seems to have gone gong-ho!