The Biggest Heavyweight fight for 15 years with a lot to fight for

This Saturday in front 90,000 fans at Wembley Britian’s Anthony Joshua (IBF Champion) will take on Wladimir Klitschko (With the vacant WBA title also on the line) in a fight that has been the talk of the sport for months since it was announced in December (I was in the crowd for that announcement). Every now and then we get fights that define the sport and this is one of them and in this piece I’ll break all the key points down.

The Fight that has made Boxing mainstream again: 

When this fight was announced there was immediate demand for tickets and TV. That meant one thing Boxing is truly mainstream again. Boxing has always had a maninstream appeal but never the levels sports like Football and Formula One have. You’ve had figures like Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, Frank Bruno, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Haggler, Lennox Lewis, and Ricky Hatton who were crossover figures who when they fought everyone paid attention. In recent years it’s been more about big fights than big names such as Carl Froch against George Groves rematch at Wembley and Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquaio which dominated newspapers and TV in the build-up. This fight has many different things that make it big one is that it is a stadium fight and at Wembley which is the national stadium in England. Another factor is that it’s a Heavyweight fight and if our boxing history tells us anything Heavyweight fights appeal to the masses. The biggest factor in this is perhaps that it’s a young lion against a old lion, future big star vs current big star, youth vs experience. Everyone looks at this fight as big for one for both with Klitschko now 41 still wanting to prove he has it after being outboxed and beaten by Tyson Fury in November 2015. For Joshua many see this as the big step up everyone’s wanted to see him in since he debuted in 2013. A key point that makes this huge is that the two TV giants of boxing in America HBO and Showtime will both broadcast this. It’s only the third time that both networks (as they say in the States) have both shown a fight. The previous two being Lennox Lewis vs Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquaio. That shows how big this fight is and with Heavyweights your basically guaranteed a knockout which is another reason so many will buy this on PPV on Sky Box Office. This fight truly IMO will stop the country when the first bell sounds and we can all enjoy the fact that boxing is back amongst the mainstream again.

Wladimir Klitschko: A champion of many years wanting to prove himself again: 

Wladimir Klitschko is described by many as a marmite figure in boxing. You either love him for being a dignified sportsman or you dislike him for having a boring fight style when he’s in the ring. Klitschko and his older brother Vitali reigned over the division for years holding all the titles which some would say stagnated the sport. Vitali retired and is now involved in Ukrainian politics and is mayor of Kiev. Wladimir under stewardship of the late great trainer Emanuel Steward dominated the heavyweight division after Lennox Lewis retired. From 2011 he held most of the belts and was very hard to beat, some said that we would have to wait for him to retire for the division to be set free until 2015. That was until Klitschko faced British fighter Tyson Fury in Düsseldorf. In the build-up to that fight Fury got into Wladimir’s head with numerous antics and mental games. During the fight Fury outfoxed, outboxed and outfought Wladimir to the shock of many. The biggest surprise was how Klitschko barely threw a shot and seemed afraid to do so. Klitschko lost on a points decision and immediately wanted a rematch which never materialised due to Fury pulling out twice due to issues (that never materialised). Now heading into this fight with a young lion that is Anthony Joshua the biggest question mark facing Wladimir is did the defeat hurt him mentally and can he come back at 41. Wladimir will say he is obsessed and determined to win his titles back (which he has) but a big question will be can he get over the many demons he has and will he be able to cope with Joshua’s ferocious power if he lands clean on Wladimir and how will he cope with the crowd being against him having fought in Germany for a long time where he is very popular. The question mark over a great champion is how do they come back from big losses and this is another case of that. Greats like Ali, Tyson and Lewis all came back and won the title but some fighters like Naseem Hamed, Ricky Hatton and Marvin Hagler (who retired after losing to Sugar Ray Leonard) never really recovered once they lost for the first time and had what they had before. If Klitschko loses in a bad way or even closely then he should call it a day at his age. If Klitschko wins then he could go on but it’s perhaps best he still retires and goes out on the top and healthy. Whatever happens you don’t know what to expect from this Wladimir Klitschko who has a lot to prove but can he rise again.

Anthony Joshua: A star on the rise who needs a win to validate his stardom:  

For Anthony Joshua he has had a perfect career so far 18 wins all by KO and all within 7 rounds. Since capturing gold at the London Olympics in 2012 this man has had a huge rise in the sport with massive exposure on Sky Sports and Box Office since joining Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing in 2013. This man perhaps has hundres of endorsement deals and and sponsorships you see him on billboards magazines and shop posters. But this Saturday at Wembley Joshua must be focused on the task in front of him Wladimir Klitschko. This is the biggest fight of Joshua’s career so far and the big step up all boxing fans in this country have wanted to see him in. Some questions about Joshua (that’ll hopefully be answered in this fight) have been some usual ones “can he take a punch” “can he box cleverley”. These are just some of the many of questions that we should get an answer to after Saturday. Joshua can become arguably the biggest star in British sport with a good victory and no doubt the biggest start in boxing as well. Joshua has everything to be a huge star youth, power, speed and a likeable personality. One of Josnua’s best assets will be his calmness in big occasions and his ability to somewhat control a crowd by his every punch (I’ve known I’ve been to four Joshua fights). We know for a fact that on fight night Joshua will have steeliness and focus on one thing victory. In terms of future a victory for Joshua should lead to a future showdown with fellow champions American Deontay Wilder (WBC) and New Zealander Joseph Parker (WBO). Other options will be a rematch with domestic rival Dillian Whyte or a huge showdown with Tyson Fury if he ever comes back and gets his boxing license following suspension for drug test failures. All this can happen but Joshua knows he has to win to make this all happen in the immediate future. One other key fact in this will be the 90,000 fans that’ll be pro Joshua and some fighters sometimes feed off crowd support and Joshua is definitely one of them. The sky is the limit for this young British Heavyweight but he must win to validate those heights and his superstardom.

Verdict: 

This verdict could be hard to predict as they say in Boxing “one punch changes everything” with this fight there is one word that sticks out TIMING. I’m going for a Anthony Joshua KO in 6 rounds because I can’t see how Klitschko copes with his power and speed. Klitschko will be in this fight and it might be a cagey start but once Joshua starts landing shots cleanly I think Klitschko will backtrack and that’ll work for Joshua and he likes to be the hunter. I wouldn’t be surprised if Klitschko finds a way to win but I think this is Joshua’s fight to lose and it’s why I think he’ll win with KO.