By Scott Gilfoid: Deontay Wilder believes that Wladimir Klitschko has a good shot at beating Anthony Joshua tonight to take his IBF heavyweight strap and win the vacant WBA belt as well when the two fighters meet tonight at Wembley Stadium in London, England. Wilder (37-0, 36 KOs) is hoping Joshua (18-0, 18 KOs) will win though, because he wants to fight him next in a big unification fight. However, Wilder says his mind tells him that the 41-year-old Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs) will win the fight because of his experience and his boxing skills. Wilder’s heart is with the 27-year-old Joshua because of his youth, home advantage and because of what it would mean for him personally if he wins.
“It’s a negative that he’s been sitting on his butt,” said Wilder to Fighthype.com about Wladimir’s 2-year inactivity. “It’s a positive if he’s been working. You can see it in his eyes. When you see hashtag obsessed, that’s a whole another level. He’s very adamant about getting his belts back, and I think we’re going to see another Klitschko. When he fought Fury, I don’t know what was wrong with him. He looked old when he fought Bryant Jennings. He looked a little stiff in that fight too,” said Wilder.
Yes, I agree with Wilder about Wladimir looking old against Jennings and Tyson Fury. We don’t know if it was age that caused Wladimir to look bad in those fights or a case of him second-guessing himself and not letting his hands go. We’ve seen Wladimir tied in knots mentally in the past in fights against Sultan Ibragimov and Eddie Chambers. Back then, Wladimir had trainer Emanuel Steward to motivate him enough in his corner to get him the victories, but he still didn’t let his hands go in both of those fights.
Wladimir was thinking way too much in both fights, and he was lucky to get the wins because he was there to be beaten. If Wladimir fights like that tonight, he’s get beaten badly by Joshua, because the British fighter will not hold back, especially if he has a timid opponent on his hands. Joshua might not be the best fighter technically that’s ever come of Britain, but he’s very good at knocking out fearful opponents that fail to fight back. You give Joshua a timid a scared looking opponent, and he’ll knock them out every time. On the other hand, if one of Joshua’s opponents go after him to try and knock him out the way Roberto Cammarelle, Dillian Whyte, Erislandy Savon and Mihai Nistor did, then he struggles badly. You can argue that’s why Joshua had problems sparring recently with Joe Joyce.
“I think we’re going to see a fresher Klitschko and we’re going to see what happens,” said Wilder. “Klitschko knows what he’s doing. He’s been here before. Nothing should knock him off his game. If he goes in there and be the Klitschko that he can be, we could be talking about a different ball game. If he comes in and thinks too much and doesn’t let his hands go, then maybe it’s time to retire. My heart is for Joshua. I want to give the fans Wilder-Joshua, but my mind says Klitschko. That’s why it’s going to be exciting. You’ve got youth with Joshua and experience with Klitschko,” said Wilder.
It might be time for Wladimir to retire. I don’t know. Klitschko still has the offensive skills, punching power, defensive skills and the mobility to be a major player in the heavyweight division, but I don’t know if he’s able to pull the trigger on his shots any longer. I think Wladimir has become too timid for his own good. He doesn’t have a great chin to begin with. If Wladimir refuses to throw punches any longer, then he’s going to do much tonight or against any decent heavyweight. Wladimir should have been able to knockout Jennings and Fury, because those are both mediocre heavyweights with no power to speak of.
The fact that Wladimir wouldn’t throw power shots against either of them suggests that he’s over-the-hill mentally and should retire from boxing. If Wladimir wouldn’t’ throw punches against light punchers like Fury and Jennings, then he certainly won’t be throwing them tonight. That’s the reasoning a lot of boxing fans have in picking the 250 pound Joshua to win tonight. It’s not that Joshua is a great fighter. It’s more of a case of Joshua being braver and more willing to throw punches. If Wladimir freezes under the spotlight tonight, then by the time he does decide it’s time to start throwing punches, it’ll probably be too late because Joshua will have knocked him out long before that time.
“With Klitschko, he’s a seasoned veteran. He’s seen everything,” said Wilder to IFL TV. “Fury knocked him off his block a little as far as his mindset. He said he’s never seen such a tall guy with different movement. But he should have learned for those mistakes he made. It wasn’t like Fury beat Klitschko up badly. It was a lack of trading, and a lack of punching. He didn’t take a beat down. He didn’t get knocked out, so he still should have been fresh. He looks mentally ready, physically ready. We’ll see if age plays a factor. We really don’t know who’s going to win,” said Wilder.
It’s definitely true that we don’t know who will win tonight’s fight. We do know that Joshua doesn’t jab much, he doesn’t move well, he lacks finesse and he has lousy head movement. Assuming Wladimir decides to use his boxing skills to stay on the outside, jab and move for 12 rounds, it’s going to be incredibly hard for Joshua to come out ahead in a protracted tactical fight like that. As we’ve seen in Joshua’s first 18 fights as a pro, he needs his opponents to stand directly in front of him for him to do well. Joshua needs his opponents to fight in a stupid manner by them backing up against the ropes and covering up like sparring partners rather than fighters that came to try and win.
You can argue that the mostly dreadful opposition that Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has found for him to fight as a pro have been little more than glorified sparring partners. Hearn hasn’t matched Joshua against one quality heavyweight. Hearn has been very careful with Joshua in matching him against non-threats to him. Joshua’s boxing fans would say that Hearn has done a great job as his promoter because it’s paid off with Joshua having an unbeaten record and having become rich despite not having fought any good heavyweights. But it’s also a huge negative because Joshua hasn’t learned anything from those fights. He hasn’t developed his boxing skills.
Former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis noted that he hasn’t seen improvement In Joshua’s boxing skills. Lewis hasn’t seen Joshua use his jab, and he’d like to see some skills rather than him just jumping on his opponents to try and bang them out. Joshua hasn’t had to learn how to fight, because Hearn is continually sticking poor opposition in the ring with him. Joshua can afford to be sloppy against the guys that Hearn has been digging up for him to destroy.
“He [Joshua] just knows with two power punchers, it’s not going the distance,” said Wladimir’s trainer Johnathon Banks said to skysports.com. “Everybody that AJ’s started to hit on, they’ve fell. Everybody Wladimir has started to hit on, they’ve fell, so no, it won’t go the distance.”
Banks is probably correct. Tonight’s Joshua-Klitschko fight WILL not go the distance. One of these guys will get knocked out. It was surprising to see how easily Joshua was staggered in his fights against Whyte and Nistor. Those fighters both clipped Joshua and had him staggering. Whyte didn’t knock Joshua out because he hurt his shoulder in the same round that he staggered him. However, Nistor was able to stop Joshua after knocking him into the ropes in their fight in 2011.
