Retired heavyweight great Lennox Lewis believes Wladimir Klitschko’s vast experience will prove too much for Anthony Joshua if the two meet next spring as is a strong possibility. Speaking with Sky Sports News HQ, Lewis said he favours 40-year-old Klitschko to beat 27-year-old Joshua, but only “slightly.”
“I would have to say Wladimir [wins] because of the experience,” Lewis said. “We have seen a lot of Anthony Joshua’s fights but he has knocked out everybody so what has he learned?
Where is the experience there? You know Wladimir is almost up to 70 fights so you have got the experience and the old, and you have got the new and the strong. So which one are you going to take? I will take experience but only slightly. When you get experience, you have to look at Wladimir’s body. Can Wladimir’s body take more going into the ring and more fights? I don’t know where he is on at that level. We are going to have to see.”
The fight, if it happens, will prove a huge gamble for Joshua, 17-0(17) and yet to be extended beyond the 7th-round in a pro fight. But as Lewis asks, how much has the soon to be 41-year-old got left at this advanced stage in his long career? A classic case of Young Tiger taking on Old Lion, this hugely intriguing fight is about as close to a 50-50 match-up as you could find in the heavyweight division today.
We want to see what happens if and when Joshua has to dig deep into his reserves of stamina in the late rounds of a fight. Can Klitschko take AJ there? A Joshua KO win would really be a sensation. Let’s hope this fight gets made. Klitschko has been out of the ring for far too long and fans want to find out just how good Joshua really is. Assuming he comes through okay in his upcoming December 10 IBF title defence (opponent still to be confirmed but Eric Molina looking likely to get the shot) Joshua could be heading into his very first super-fight.