By Scott Gilfoid: It looks like the Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko fight IS NOT happening now, according to Dan Rafael. There are some issues that are holding up their December 10 fight, and Wladimir (64-4, 53 KOs) is now looking in another direction for a different opponent for December. There’s no word about what has caused Wladimir to lose interest in the fight with Joshua. I wouldn’t be surprised if the sanctioning bodies won’t have the WBA or WBO title on the line in addition to Joshua’s IBF strap. I don’t think it was a great deal for Wladimir anyway as far as him having to fight in Joshua’s country rather than someplace else.
“I’m told by a good source there are issues closing Joshua vs. Klitschko so Klitschko is now also looking at another possible December fight,” said Dan Rafael on his Twitter.
Wladimir wanted to fight for at least two of the belts. If all he’s going to get is to fight for Joshua’s IBF strap, then that’s not worth it.
Wladimir is ranked #2 by the World Boxing Organization, and he can easily fight #1 Joseph Parker for the vacant WBO heavyweight title that was recently stripped from Tyson Fury. Wladimir would step in front of #3 WBO Andy Ruiz Jr., but who cares? Wladimir is ranked in front of Ruiz, so he should step in front of him to fight for the WBO title. I think it’s a better deal for Wladimir, because he won’t have to fight in front of 21,000 pro-Joshua fans in the UK. That would have been a nightmare. If Wladimir is going to fight Joshua, then he needs to fight in a neutral venue or not at all.
I can’t say I blame Wladimir for not taking the Joshua fight. The whole setup was bad, bad and bad for him. They would have had to drag me kicking and screaming into the UK on the night to fight Joshua at the Manchester Arena, because I wouldn’t have done it if I were Wladimir. I’m not saying I’m afraid. I’d be more afraid of having to put myself in a situation where I might need a knockout to have a chance of winning the fight. I just don’t have any confidence that Wladimir would be given a decision fighting in the UK.
With all the screaming being done by Joshua’s fans each time he throws a punch in the fight, I think the judges would be giving him round after round. Wladimir might find himself down 11 rounds to none by the time the 12th round starts. That would be terrible. He’d need a knockout, and Joshua could just stall out the round by holding. It would be ugly.
Wladimir, 40, hasn’t fought in an entire year since his narrow 12 round decision loss to Tyson Fury last November. That’s obviously not good. There would have been major ring rust for Wladimir to be fighting Joshua for his IBF heavyweight title. Besides that, Wladimir would be giving Joshua the home country advantage by fighting him at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. Talk about putting yourself behind the eight ball. That would have been a lousy deal for Wladimir, because he would have been rusty and fighting in front of 21,000 screaming Joshua fans on the night.
Here’s the deal. If Joshua wants the Klitschko fight badly enough, then he needs to agree to fight him in a neutral venue like Germany, Austria or the United States. The last time I checked, Wladimir doesn’t live in Germany or Austria, so those would be fine countries for a fight against Joshua.
We haven’t heard anything about the splitting of the purse for the Joshua-Klitschko fight. But with Wladimir’s huge popularity in comparison to Joshua’s, I could see where you can argue that Wladimir deserves a 50-50 deal. I’m just saying. If you want Wladimir’s valuable pelt, then you’ve got to give him a 50-50 deal. This isn’t Dominic Breazeale or Charles Martin you’re talking about. If you want/need Wladimi’s name on your resume, then it’s going to cost some big time cash. 50-50 would be a good deal.
I don’t know. You can even argue that Wladimir deserves the bigger cut of the revenue, because it no longer means much to be seen as a belt holder. The only REAL champions nowadays are the guys that hold at least three of the four world tiles in each division. For example, you can say that middleweight Gennady “GGG” Golovkin is a REAL champion, because he holds the IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight titles.
In contrast, Joshua ONLY holds the IBF heavyweight title. The other titles are elsewhere. Deontay Wilder holds the WBC strap, and the WBA and WBO titles are vacant. As such, Joshua being an IBF title doesn’t mean a heck of a lot. He doesn’t have the other three belts. For Joshua to have full power, he needs the other three scepters of power for him to ask for the bigger cut of the revenue for a superstar like Wladimir.
It’s still unclear who Wladimir will be fighting in December, but you would have to think that Joseph Parker would be the most likely opponent. As long as the WBO title will be on the line for that fight, I think Parker vs. Wladimir in Germany is the PERFECT fight. The two of them can battle it out for the vacant WBO title. Heck, I why not have both the WBA and WBO title being on the line for the Wladimir vs. Parker fight. They would make the fight even bigger.
As for Joshua, I’m not sure who he can fight. Hearn has already booked the Manchester Arena for December. I suppose Joshua could fight someone like Kubrat Pulev or maybe Andy Ruiz Jr. That would be a swell fight. One of those guys would be just dandy for Joshua. If Hearn can’t pull in one of those fine names, then there’s always Dillian Whyte or David Price if he’s up to it.
Either of those guys would jump at the chance to fight Joshua for his IBF title. Price has been talking about wanting to fight Joshua for ages now. Well, here’s his big chance. All he needs is for Hearn to call him up and sign him for the fight. Joshua vs. Price would play out big in the UK. I’m not sure if it’ll sell out the 21,000 seat Manchester Arena, but it’ll still be a big fight. The fans will love it.
