Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko – RECAP

By David Martinez / dmboxing.com

Lets get straight to the point, this was a good and very entertaining fight. This is just what boxing and particularly the heavyweight division needed.

I picked Joshua to win, simply because of youth. But I knew the 41 year old Klitschko would be a true test for the young 27 year old champion.

In scoring the fight, I had Joshua handily winning the first five rounds as he easily power punched his way through those early rounds.

It was in round give, after being knockout down, that Klitschko brought it to another level. He completely dominated the remainder of the round, by such a margin, that I questioned myself in scoring that round 10-8 for Joshua. It could have been only a 10-9 for Joshua?

In round six, Klitschko became a different fighter.  He took the fight to Joshua, knocking him down, having him spent and ready to go. I personally thought it was the end of the line Joshua, but Klitschko let it get away by not seizing the moment.

I  instantly thought of a few heavyweights that would of ended the bout at that opportune time – just to name a few are: Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Larry Holmes and I’ll even take it back in time to – Jack Dempsey.

From that point on, Klitschko won three of the next four rounds with Joshua narrowly winning round nine.

Going into the eleventh “knockout” round, my scorecard had Joshua ahead 95-93 (6 rounds to 4), but it was a close fight and some of the rounds could have gone either way.

The beginning of the end came in round eleven when Joshua came out fighting like a champion and delivered a devastating upper cut that set the stage for two knockdowns and the ultimate stoppage of the fight.

Both fighters came to fight and that should be commended! A crowd of 90,000 fans packed into Wembley Stadium, London to watch this fight in person while millions of others, through the world, watched the fight on TV. How important was this fight? Important enough that both Showtime and HBO televised the fight here in the USA

Anthony Joshua (19-0 / 19 by KO) retained his IBF title belt and added the vacant WBA title to his resume. 

Wladimir Klitschko (64-5 / 53 by KO) fought as well as I have seen anyone his age, and although I would recommend retirement, there is already rumor talk that he will come back to challenge for the heavyweight championship.

With the current field of heavyweights of Deontay Wilder (38-0 / 37 by KO); Kubrat Pulev (25-1 / 13 by KO); Luis Ortiz (27-0 / 23 by KO); Joseph Parker (22-0 / 18 by KO; Andy Ruiz Jr. (29-1 / 19 by KO); and a comeback by Tyson Fury (25-0 / 18 by KO) … all of a sudden the heavyweight division has gotten exciting – very exciting – in boxing

 

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