By Scott Gilfoid: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder is still giving Wladimir Klitschko a shot at beating IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in their fight on April 29 despite his feelings that father time is beating on the door of the aging 40-year-old Ukrainian heavyweight.
Deontay openly admits that he wants the younger lion Joshua to win the fight thought, considering that a fight between the two will make a heck of a lot of green stuff. Wilder likes the idea him matching a fighter like Joshua, who will come to slug with him, because he wants to trade shots with him and land some right hands on his chin to see if he remains standing.
We haven’t seen Joshua hit with a significant shot since he was staggered by Dillian Whyte in the 2nd round of their fight in 2015. If Joshua plows through the hapless Wladimir on April 29 without getting hit with anything significant, then Wilder could be next if the IBF and WBA give Joshua the green light to fight the 6’7” Deontay in a unification fight.
Wilder said this about his thoughts on the Joshua vs. Wladimir fight on April 29 at the Wembley Stadium in London, England:
“With the Klitschko and Joshua fight, my heart is with Joshua, but my mind is with Klitschko,” said Wilder in talking about his thoughts on the Joshua-Klitschko fight. “Klitschko, you can’t count him out. I think father time is at his door. But again, styles make fights. Both of them have that skillful boxing style. It’s going to be an interesting fight. If I had to pick one, I would go with Joshua. For the simple fact that me and him would make a big fight. Me and him; strong, unifying the division, and knockouts as well. That’s what the fans want,” said Wilder.
If Joshua can’t beat Wladimir, then he’s really not the fighter that many boxing fans thought he, because this SHOULD be an easy fight for him. We saw how Tyson Fury was able to Wladimir just by moving for 12 rounds and slapping him with weak punches. Wladimir looked frozen from the 1st round, unwilling to throw punches for fear of being hit by a counter shot.
Wladimir is going to do the same thing against Joshua on April 29. Once Joshua sees that Wladimir can’t or better yet WON’T throw anything back at him, he’s going to get confident and quickly knock him out. It’ll be interesting to see how the large crowd reacts at Wembley Stadium.
It’s expected to be filled with over 80,000 boxing fans, many of which will be there to see Joshua. Will the fans be happy to see Joshua flatten Klitschko in one or two rounds, or will the fans feel like they got ripped off with a terrible product with this mismatch?
I think the fans are going to be angry. What can you do though? Wladimir is the one that wants the fight. Someone should pull him aside and let him know that maybe it would be a good idea for him to either retire or look for an easier fight against someone like WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker. He looked plenty vulnerable in his recent fight against Andy Ruiz Jr. on December 10. Wladimir vs. Parker would be a toss-up fight.
I don’t buy into the old “styles make fights” bit like Wilder. I think Joshua is just going to beat Wladimir with ease based on him simply being willing to let his hands go in a meaningful way. Wladimir will likely be still struck at the starting gate by the time fight ends with him getting blasted out in the 1st round.
Wladimir just has not been letting his hands go for quite some time in his fights, and it’s not just his last one. Wladimir had the same problem in his previous fight against Bryant Jennings in April 2015, with him unable or unwilling to throw anything of significance at Jennings. The only thing that Wilder was willing to do was throw jabs and run around the ring to avoid the light hitting Jennings in that fight.
The last time that Wladimir was a power shots was in his fight against Kubrat Pulev in 2014. Pulev made it easy for Wladimir by walking into his left hooks that was throwing. Wladimir didn’t look particularly coordinated in that fight. He was just swinging for the fences with his left hooks, and Pulev was foolishly walking into the punches.
The Joshua vs. Klitschko fight will come down to these areas:
– Chin – Joshua appears to have the better chin, but it’s still hard to know.
– Willingness to throw power shots – Joshua has a big advantage in this area, because he is totally willing to fire his power shots. Joshua has always been willing to throw power shots in his fights. When Wladimir was younger, he was fearless when it came to letting his power shots go. But he’s now gotten to the point in his career where he just will not throw his power shots for anything.
– Stamina – This is a question mark area. Both fighters look to have stamina issues. We haven’t’ got a chance to see how good Joshua’s stamina is because his opponents tend to fold up so quickly in his fights.
– Holding – For Wladimir to have a chance of beating Joshua, he must be allowed to hold for a good portion of every round. If the referee does his job and prevents Wladimir from holding all night, then he will be quickly finished off, because Wladimir doesn’t have the stamina to move nonstop in each round for 12 rounds.
– Trainer – Wladimir seemed to do well in the past when he was with trainer Emanuel Steward, as he was able to get Wladimir calm down and fight in a more logical manner by giving way to fear. Steward passed away, and Wladimir doesn’t seem to be the same fighter without him in his corner. Wladimir’s current trainer Jonathan Banks gives him great instructions, but Wladimir doesn’t follow them like he did when Steward was there.
