If Wladimir Klitschko was in his prime, could he beat Anthony Joshua?


Anthony Joshua produced the performance of his career to add the WBA world heavyweight title to his IBF crown with an enthralling knockout win over Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley Stadium.


Joshua was the less experienced professional fighter, having had 50 fewer fights, and made his debut in 2013, 16 years and 10 months later than Klitschko, whose first professional fight was in 1996. He had fought 202 fewer professional rounds, totaling 167 compared to Klitschko's 369.

Joshuan otteluista vain neljä on jatkunut vähintään neljänteen erään asti lontoolaisen iskettyä 16 vastustajaansa kanveesin kolmen ensimmäisen erän aikana. Vain Carlos Takam sekä Vladimir Klitschko ovat kestäneet yli kymmen erää ammattilaiskehässä vuoden 2012 Lontoon olympialaisten kultamitalistin käsittelyssä. Parkerin kolme viimeisintä voittoa on tullut vasta 12 erän jäkeen, joten uusiseelantilaisella pitäisi olla edellytykset venyttää ratkaisu myöhempiin eriin.

Scorecard: Joshua gets up from canvas to KO Klitschko

Joshua threw his arms into the air as roars rolled down the Wembley tiers. He had come through his stiffest test to date, while Klitschko too had answered questions, showing he remains competitive at world level, even at 41.

He will rue not finishing the job when he floored Joshua and appeared tantalisingly close to reclaiming two of the titles he lost in his last fight against Tyson Fury in 2015.

The stats suggested Joshua had an advantage in power over Klitschko, with a 100% knockout percentage compared to Klitschko's 83%.

In his last fight leading up to this contest, he had lost to Tyson Fury on November 28, 2015, by unanimous decision in their WBA Super World Heavyweight, IBF World Heavyweight, WBO World Heavyweight and The Ring Heavyweight championship fight at ESPRIT arena, Düsseldorf, Germany.


Joshua vs. Klitschko fight card: Full list of undercard bouts

Klitschko flicked his jab, his left hand waving in front of Joshua's face. Feints from both men stood out as they hunted openings.

Joshua beat Klitschko in front of a mega 90,000 at Wembley Stadium

The fight's cumulative worldwide audience is estimated to be 500 million viewers. In the United Kingdom, the fight set a domestic record, with 1.532million buys, exceeding the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight. At a viewing price of £20 ($26), the Joshua–Klitschko fight grossed approximately £31million ($40million) in pay-per-view revenue. In total, the fight generated an estimated £50million () in revenue from all sources, including live gate, pay-per-view, and overseas broadcasting.

Anthony Joshua vs Wladimir Klitschko Special Preview Boxing Show

In terms of activity leading into the fight, Anthony Joshua had been fighting more than Wladimir Klitschko.

INSIGHT Wladimir Klitschko: I Totally Get Anthony Joshua

So when he got the call to join Klitschko in his training camp in the Austrian Alps, he jumped at the chance. For the Ukrainian, Joshua’s presence at Stanglwirt that summer made a lasting impression.

Anthony Joshua vs Wladimir Klitschko: 18 fights, 18 KOs..

Going into this contest, Anthony Joshua had last fought 4 months and 19 days ago, while Wladimir Klitschko's last outing had been 1 year, 5 months and 1 day ago.

Anthony Joshua beats Wladimir Klitschko by KO

Anthony Joshua beat Wladimir Klitschko by technical knockout in the 11th round on Saturday, April 29th, 2017, at Wembley Stadium, London.

Anthony Joshua beats Wladimir Klitschko in 11th round ..

The sweat flew from Klitschko's head as the telling uppercut landed crushingly, before Joshua hunted down his opponent to seal a historic win.

Joshua by TKO/KO (-150) over Wladimir Klitschko in 2017

Wladimir Klitschko's prediction for his heavyweight showdown with Anthony Joshua has finally been revealed.

Anthony Joshua: The Road to Klitschko

Undefeated heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua proved that his power and chin are resilient earlier today (Sat., April 29, 2017) when he took on Wladimir Klitschko for the IBF, vacant WBA (Super) and IBO heavyweight titles live on Showtime from Wembley Stadium in London, England. After a back-and-forth first few rounds, Klitschko caught Joshua in the sixth and dropped him for the first time in his short career. The champ would recover, though, and trade with the Ukrainian for the next few rounds. That was until Joshua blasted Klitschko with a mean uppercut in Round 11. Klitschko wobbled, fell down, got back up, was wobbled again, fell down again, got back up again, and then was finally trapped and finished in the corner.

Anthony Joshua vs Wladimir Klitschko (2017)

The domestic television rights to the fight were held by , while radio rights were held by . In the United States, as rights to Joshua and Klitschko's fights have historically been held by the two networks respectively, an arrangement was made for both and to hold rights to this fight. In a contrast to , which was broadcast via a PPV jointly produced by both networks, HBO and Showtime produced their own separate telecasts as part of their respective and brands, and Showtime beat HBO for exclusive rights to broadcast the fight live in the U.S. (where it occurred in the afternoon hours in the ). Likewise, HBO broadcast the bout on later in the night.