There is no arguing the point any longer, England’s Anthony Joshua (19-0, 19 KOs) is the king of the heavyweight division. In a fight that started slow before exploding in the fifth, young Anthony Joshua had to rally from extreme distress to win. Former longtime division kingpin Wladimir Klitschko (64-5, 53 KOs) should also be lauded for his valiant display as well in one of the better heavyweight bouts in recent memory.
The fight started slow through four rounds. Wladimir would most often come out with a strong right hand almost immediately, but for the bulk of the round he would move his hands very little. After four I had it 3-1 Joshua scored largely on his slightly better volume, but I did give Wladimir the one round in which he came out and landed two excellent right hands at the start.
In the fifth everything changed. Joshua came out blazing, clearly looking for a finish. He battered Klitschko around the ring like no one has since Corrie Sanders way back in 2003. Klitschko collapsed along the ropes and momentarily looked defeated as Joshua raised his arms triumphantly. Wladimir Klitschko was not defeated, at least not yet. At age 41 he showed the most heart of his career in massively rallying back. First he stunned Anthony Joshua with a huge left hook, and then he unleashed everything he had. A lot of the work was wild, but he landed big shots with his signature huge power, probably doing more damage than he had even received early in the round. Joshua managed to stay on his feet in what will almost assuredly go down as the heavyweight round of the year. I scored the round even, but it became a 10-9 Joshua round for his knockdown.
The fight bottomed out for Joshua in round six. Still feeling the impact of the latter half of round five, an exhausted and confused Anthony Joshua received a classic Wladimir Klitschko right hand behind the jab. Joshua physically folded and collapsed to the canvas. When he rose, I was sure the fight was over. Perhaps due to fatigue from the epic round five, or maybe due to fatigue from 41 years and 69 fights, Klitschko was unable to press his advantage over the remaining course of the round. Joshua survived, but found himself in serious trouble.
Rounds seven through ten didn’t seem to improve his chances, but at least he was no longer being hurt. Wladimir Klitschko had begun firing out his powerful jab like he has for so many years, repeatedly popping Joshua hard square in the face. Anthony did find good body work at times, but it was hard to ignore the piston popping him repeatedly in terms of scoring the rounds. At this point I had Wladimir up and felt he was about to cruise to a narrow decision victory.
He wasn’t. Joshua rallied huge in round 11, culminating in an absolutely massive uppercut that seemed to near decapitate his 41 year old opponent. Somehow Wladimir stayed on his feet, but from there Joshua was unrelenting in smashing him around the ring. Klitschko went down twice before valiantly being stopped on his feet in what was a very fair, very reasonable stoppage. Anthony Joshua is for real.
Post-fight Joshua took the mic and in terms of his future focused on a domestic bout with the semi-retired Tyson Fury. That would be an absolutely huge fight, of course, but it feels a long way off if it were to ever happen at all due to Fury’s current condition. He also has a rematch clause with Wladimir Klitschko, but he didn’t bring that up and even Wladimir seemed a little non-committal as to whether he would pursue it post-fight. It is hard to blame him. If this is the end for an at the very worst top 15 heavyweight of all time, he went out as well as someone can in a loss. This was a really good performance for him too. All in all it was just a great fight for boxing itself. How great is it to be able to say that?
On the largely forgettable undercard, Luke Campbell (17-1, 14 KOs) won what should be a shot at Jorge Linares when Darley Perez (33-3-2, 21 KOs) retired in the ninth citing an arm injury. Campbell was in control of the fight at that point. Scott Quigg (33-1-2, 24 KOs) looked a little off in his featherweight debut, but he won on the cards and should be in position to fight Lee Selby for Selby’s belt in what would be a big domestic fight. Katie Taylor (5-0, 3 KOs) also picked up a stoppage win.
