Anthony Joshua boxing news and latest headlines
IBF heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua (18-0, 18 KOs) is scheduled to defend his title against former world champion Wladimir Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs) on April 29 at Wembley Stadium in London, England. In addition to Joshua’s IBF title, the vacant WBA super world heavyweight title will also be up for grabs in a showdown that could ultimately be seen as a crossroads fight for both pugilists.
It won’t be too much of a shock if WBC heavyweight ruler Deontay Wilder scores a KO victory tonight; in fact most fans are fully expecting Wilder to despatch his fifth title challenger Gerald Washington inside the distance. However, it will be something of a sensation if reigning IBF heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua scores a KO in his next fight.
Joshua of course faces former king Wladimir Klitschko, on April 29, with the WBA title also on the line, and AJ has predicted a KO win. As fans know, Klitschko has not been stopped since way, way back in 2004, when he suddenly collapsed from sheer exhaustion in his brutal fight with an unbelievably tough Lamon Brewster. But Joshua, who has KO’d or stopped each of his 18 pro opponents, tells British GQ Magazine that he will be the first man in 13 years to take out “Dr. Steel Hammer.”
In his own super-polite way, IBF heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua has laid into rival champ, WBC ruler Deontay Wilder. AJ is no trash-talker and never will be, but he got as close to being verbally aggressive towards another fighter as he is likely to get when he spoke about Wilder and his “easy pickings” opposition.
While almost all fight fans and boxing historians feel there will NEVER be another fight or night as epic and as truly special as the happening that was the Joe Frazier-Muhammad Ali super-fight from 1971, reigning WBC heavyweight king Deontay Wilder says that a fight between he and rival champ Anthony Joshua would rank right up there with “The Fight of The Century.”
Anthony Joshua wants to unify the world heavyweight titles to prove that he is the number-one of the division. Deontay Wilder has exactly the same idea. Joshua, the reigning IBF champ, will add the “super” version of the WBA crown to his growing collection of titles if he can beat Wladimir Klitschko in their big April showdown.
We all want to see an undisputed heavyweight champion, and we fans are not alone in this desire. Deontay Wilder, the WBC king, has stated how, for him, “2017 is all about unifications,” and New Zealand’s reigning WBO heavyweight boss Joseph Parker and his team feel the big unification bouts will come soon enough.
Is Anthony Joshua a tougher opponent for former heavyweight king Wladimir Klitschko than Tyson Fury? If so, and if what Klitschko had to say about his April fight was not down to hype and nothing more, then Wladimir could be in trouble. Klitschko lost to Fury, yet he has either forgotten about that fight or he has dismissed it from his mind; because Klitschko says the Joshua fight is “the toughest challenge I have ever had.”
While reigning and unbeaten WBC heavyweight king Deontay Wilder has gone on record as saying he doesn’t believe his February 25 challenger Gerald Washington is ready to fight him (way to build the fight!), “The Bronze Bomber” is more than ready to get busy trying to unify the heavyweight titles here in 2017.
Speaking at a presser this week, and quoted by RingTV.com, Wilder said that after he gets past the unbeaten (but yes, still very green) Washington, he wants his very next fight to be for the WBO belt; either against the current holder Joseph Parker or Parker’s next challenger Hughie Fury – who will face Parker in his maiden defence on April 1 (incidentally, Wilder picks Parker to win the fight.)
Retired heavyweight great Lennox Lewis is eager to see whether or not the loss Wladimir Klitschko suffered at the hands of Tyson Fury back (way back it seems now) in November of 2015 has “re-lit his flame.” Lewis says that in some cases, including his own, a defeat can motivate a fighter to come back harder, stronger.
Speaking with The Evening Standard, the all-time great who defeated every man he faced during his fine career, says he will be able to tell “after two rounds” if Klitschko has got the old fire back or not.
On Tuesday, January 31, IBF Heavyweight World Champion ANTHONY JOSHUA, (18-0, 18 KO’s) and long reigning Former Unified Heavyweight World Champion WLADIMIR KLITSCHKO, (64-4-0, 53 KO’s) hit New York City for media appearances and to hold a press conference to discuss their April 29 massive international boxing clash set for London’s Wembley Stadium where a sold-out crowd of 90,000 will bear witness.
The press conference was held at Madison Square Garden, known as The Mecca of Boxing, where Klitschko was been victorious four times in his illustrious career.