Wladimir Klitschko Loses to Anthony Joshua in World Heavyweight Title Fight
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Tags: Anthony Joshua, Wladimir Klitschko, World Heavyweight Title Fight
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For 12 minutes, the worst fears of the boxing community were being realized. After years of heavyweight matches that failed to captivate, 90,000 people who had come to Wembley Stadium to see fireworks in the division’s most anticipated bout in 15 years were instead being treated to a jabbing contest.
And then the bell for the fifth round was struck.
The fight ended with the official coronation of a brilliant young star, Anthony Joshua — who retained his IBF heavyweight championship with a dramatic 11th round technical knockout victory. But to get to that crowning moment, the heralded phenom was pushed to the limit by a future Hall of Famer, Wladimir Klitschko — who, in defeat, proved mightier than he ever had in victory.
The first third of the bout was entirely forgettable — an extended feeling out period. Joshua (19-0, 19 knockouts) made efforts to get inside. But Klitschko managed to control the distance with his lengthy jab, as he has so often done over the course of his 69-fight career.
But Joshua began the fifth with a furious attack, which eventually floored Klitschko to the delight of the sold out crowd.
The fight seemed as though it might be over right then. The 41-year-old Klitschko had finally tasted Joshua’s power. And Joshua, who had dispatched all of his previous opponents inside of seven rounds, appeared on his way to doing it again.
But Joshua eventually punched himself out. And Klitschko (64-5, 53 knockouts) showed remarkable courage by staying on his feet and then launching an attack of his own to close out the round — surviving not only the knockdown but a sizable cut above his left eye.
And then in the sixth, Klitschko landed a picture perfect straight right hand to Joshua’s temple, and the young star instantly crashed to the canvas. The 27-year-old champion beat the count, but suddenly he was the one looking to survive.
Klitschko was dominant in the sixth and much of the seventh. But a left-right combination upstairs by Joshua in the closing seconds of the seventh appeared to help Joshua stabilize the fight.
The fighters needed to catch their breath after three incredible rounds, and the pace slowed — if only a bit — through Rounds 8, 9 and 10.
But Joshua was beginning to find the range again. And in the 11th, just as he had in that remarkable fifth, Joshua attacked immediately. Within seconds, he threw a thundering right uppercut that marked the beginning of the end.
Klitschko went down immediately. He beat the count, but this time could not summon the strength to fight back. He went down a second time and again stumbled to his feet. But at 2:25 of the 11th, referee David Fields had seen enough and stopped the fight.
A jubilant Joshua leapt atop the ropes, with the massive audience in a frenzy. His reign has officially begun.
“Sometimes you can be a phenomenal boxer, but boxing is about character,” Joshua said. “When you go into the trenches, that’s who you find out who you really are.”
Klitschko and Joshua delivered a classic on what was an important night for boxing — a sport desperately hoping to restore the luster to its most storied weight class. Saturday night’s bout was arguably the biggest heavyweight boxing showdown in 15 years — since Lennox Lewis squared off against Mike Tyson. That bout effectively ended the Lewis and Tyson heavyweight era. The Klitschko era soon followed — in which Wladimir and his brother, Vitali, were thoroughly dominant.
But they were largely saddled with inferior opposition over the course of their careers. And they sometimes fought in a style dismissed as boring — particularly Wladimir, who was almost always able to win his fights by keeping his distance and using his jab.
To that end, many in the industry were hoping for the end of the Klitschko era on Saturday night — with Joshua looked to as the savior-in-waiting.
Interestingly, for as brutal of a battle as Klitschko and Joshua waged in the ring, Saturday night offered the very first trace of hostility between the two combatants — who have been cordial throughout the months-long promotion. At times, in fact, Klitschko and Joshua have seemed positively chummy.
Even at Friday’s weigh-in — where fighters customarily wear menacing scowls as they are posed opposite each other for a stare down — Joshua and Klitschko smiled and joked around.
That all changed when the bell rang, just as Joshua promised earlier in the week.
“I don’t hate Klitschko. I don’t dislike Klitschko. But I want to beat Klitschko,” Joshua said at the weigh-in.
But the proceedings concluded as they began, with Joshua and Klitschko appreciating each other and the crowd appreciating them.
“A massive shoutout to Wladimir Klitschko,” Joshua said. “How much respect do you have for this guy?”
Klitschko was a bit more subdued after the defeat, but he still recognized the magnitude of the classic battle.
“Both men giving their best,” Klitschko said. “The best man won the fight.”
