Joshua sees win over Klitschko making him more credible

By Boxing News - 01/24/2017 - Comments

Image: Joshua sees win over Klitschko making him more credible

By Scott Gilfoid: After IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua beats 41-year-old Wladimir Klitschko on April 29, he expects his credibility to increase his credibility in the boxing world. Joshua, 27, believes a win over former world champion Klitschko will give him more status in the sport.

It didn’t really work well for Tyson Fury though after he beat Klitschko. Instead of Fury being seen as a great, he was seen as someone that picked the right moment in Klitshko’s career to fight him. I suspect it’ll be much the same with Joshua, but even more so.

Wladimir hasn’t fought in almost 2 years since his loss to Fury, and he’s chosen not to take a tune-up fight to help get ready for his fight against Joshua. Wladimir looked old and gun-shy against Fury, who isn’t known for his punching power. Wladimir couldn’t pull the trigger on his punches, which could either be a sign of age or a sign that he just doesn’t have the confidence to throw punches at this point in his career.

“I’ve done what I had to do to become champion, which is great. But when we talk about defining fights, this is one that could change the perspective of my credibility within my industry. That’s why this fight is important,” said Joshua to skysports.com about his fight against Klitschko. “I’m going into the stage, emotionally, where this is my defining fight.”

It’s sad that Joshua sees Klitschko as his “defining fight”, because it’s not a great fight if you look at where the Ukrainian fighter is at this point in his career. He looks like an over-the-hill fighter. You can understand Joshua’s happiness about being on the verge of adding Klitschko’s scalp to his resume, but this isn’t a big deal.

Now if Klitschko was still in his prime, and fighting at a high level, then it would be a different story. If this was a prime Vitali Klitschko, Joshua could make a fuss about beating him. Many boxing fans believe that Vitali was the better of the two Klitschko brothers.

Wladimir was the one that was able to hold onto his titles longer due to him being relatively injury free during his career, and there not being any high quality heavyweights in his path. There are arguably better heavyweights in the division right now than Wladimir. I rate Deontay Wilder, Luis Ortiz and David Haye as better fighters than Wladimir now. I think they all beat him at this point. I know that Wladimir beat Haye six years ago in 2011, but that was a younger Wladimir. Haye was also lighter back then at 210 pounds. He’s put on weight, and gotten better.

If Joshua can beat Haye, Ortiz and Wilder, then I can see him talking about having some credible wins on his resume. But as far as beating Wladimir goes, I don’t see a win over him as raising Joshua’s credibility. I’m not sure if Joshua has been keeping up with what’s going on in the boxing world or not. If he has, he’ll know that Wladimir lost his last fight to Tyson Fury nearly two years ago in 2015.

Fury’s credibility wasn’t increased as far as I can tell after he beat Klitschko. He was just seen as a fighter that beat Klitschko after he got old. It’s going to be even more of the case for Joshua, because of Klitschko’s inactivity in the last two years. I’m just saying.