By Scott Gilfoid: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder says Wladimir Klitschko would have knocked out IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua last Saturday night if he had his late trainer Emanuel Steward in his corner rather than his current trainer Johnathon Banks. Wilder noted that Joshua was still hurt 3 rounds after he was knocked down by Wladimir in round 6. Wilder thinks that Wladimir could have knocked out Joshua from rounds 6 through 9 if he had Steward still there in his corner, motivating him and pushing hard to finish the badly hurt Joshua.
That’s what Steward used to do in Wladimir’s corner. He used to push Wladimir hard in between rounds when he was failing to be aggressive and go for a knockout. Steward also had a calming effect to Wladimir when he was hurt in a fight against Samuel Peter. Wladimir is missing that from his corner now that he’s lost Steward to cancer and is training by Banks. Wladimir needed Steward more than ever last Saturday night after he had Joshua out on his feet in the 6th and 7th. Wladimir backed off and let Joshua survive. In between rounds, Joshua’s trainer Banks seemed subdued, and wasn’t going after Wladimir the way that Steward used to in the past. Steward would get very upset and Wladimir and let him know that he needed to knockout his opponent.
“Klitschko do a similar thing that I do, come with the left hook, right hand,” said Wilder to Fighthype.com about how Wladimir knocked down Joshua’s left hand guard and then nailed him with a straight right to the head in the 6th to drop him. “It’s a certain way he did it. He pulled his left hand back and come with the right hand. I got that in my arsenal as well. If you go back to the Kelvin Price fight, you’ll see that I used the same move as Klitshko did,” said Wilder.
Wladimir has been using his left hand to knockdown the guard of his opponents since he turned pro. This is something that some Eastern European fighters use to get their opponents left guard out of the way so that they can be hit with a right hand. Wladimir is pretty good at that. He times his right hand perfectly after knocking down the front guard of his opponent. It worked against Joshua, because he looked pretty clueless out there. Joshua was being taken to school by Wladimir in the majority of the rounds. Wladimir just made the mistake of leaving a big puncher in the ring with him for too long instead of finishing him off when he had the chance.
“I was looking at the style and weakness of both, not just Joshua,” said Wilder in talking about him being at ringside to study Joshua and Klitschko last Saturday night to scout them. “If Klitschko wasn’t that old; he don’t know how to finish no more. If you had Emanuel Steward with Klitschko in there, he would have been able to finish the fight. He had Joshua hurt 2 or 3 rounds after getting knocked down. Klitschko could not finish the fight. He couldn’t finish. I saw so much in this fight up close. I was licking my chops. I’m tearing those mother-[expletive] up. I can’t wait, man,” said Wilder in wanting to fight Joshua or Klitschko.
I totally agree with you, Mr. Deontay. Wladimir WOULD have beaten Joshua with Emanuel Steward calling the shots in his corner last Saturday. What a loss it was for Wladimir when Steward passed away. I think Wladimir would have whipped Tyson Fury if Steward had been in his corner and he definitely would have beaten Joshua.
It’s obvious that Wladimir needs to change trainers to find someone that is more forceful with him in his corner. I don’t think he will though. Wladimir seems pretty loyal to Banks, which is too bad, because it’s his career. Wladimir could always keep Banks as the main trainer, but have a motivator type of guy that helps out that can tell him in strong words what he needs to do in between rounds. I think Wladimir needs someone like Deontay as a secondary trainer that wouldn’t be beholden to him, and could tell him what he needs to do without worry of hurting his feelings.
I don’t know if Banks is the kind of trainer that Wladimir responds to. He seems like he needs someone that can really get on his case. In looking at all the well-known top trainers out there today, I’m not sure who would be the most similar to Steward, I doubt that Wilder would ever trainer Wladimir, but he needs someone similar to him. I think Wladimir would work well with someone like that who would pressure him to finish off his hurt opponents like Joshua.
Wladimir can stick with Banks if he wants, but I think it’s not a good situation for him. Banks’ style of coaching seems completely different from what Wladimir had before when he was with Steward for a 10-year period. Wladimir only lost 1 fight with Steward training him, and that was his first fight against Lamon Brewster. That was a weird fight where Wladimir seemed to get ill in between rounds and was knocked out.
“Definitely,” said Wilder when asked if Klitschko was unable to finish Joshua due to his age. “Like I said, if you had Emanuel Steward-Klitschko in there. JB [Johnathon Banks] is not Emanuel Steward. Wladimir respected Emanuel Steward. I’m not saying he don’t respect JB. But Klitschko still do what he wants to do. At the end of the day, he’s going to do what he wants to do. But Emanuel Steward gets in your face. He gets all up in you. They respected Emanuel. Emanuel Steward would say, ‘Get in his [expletive]. What are you waiting on? What are you waiting on, dammit? Get in there and finish that man off.’ He would have got the message and came back and finished. One thing about me, I got the one punch knockout. You can’t teach that. Do not get tired or wounded in front of me. I’m too vicious. I’m not nice in that ring,” said Wilder.
Wilder is right about Wladimir respecting Steward. He had a lot of respect for him. When Steward would tell Wladimir to do things during fights, he would follow the instructions to the letter in most cases. When Wladimir wouldn’t do what Steward would tell him to do, he would get on his case and he was direct and forceful. I think it’s a different situation than what Wladimir has now with Banks. Without a Steward-like presence in his corner, I think Wladimir will lose the rematch with Joshua. I don’t think Wladimir is able to make smart decisions during the course of his fights on his own, and he doesn’t seem to be responding well to what Banks is telling him.
If Banks didn’t tell Wladimir to go after Joshua in rounds 7,8 and 9, then it’s time for him to get a new trainer, because he should have been telling him to go after Joshua. I know that Steward would have been telling Wladimir to go for the knockout. At this point, I think Wladimir should look at adding another guy in his corner that tell it like it is in the way that Steward used to do. Without someone like that as Wladimir’s trainer, I think he might as well retire, because he’s not good when he’s on cruise control in making his own decisions what to do during his fights. If Wladimir was good at that, he would have knocked Joshua out last Saturday night.
“They’re both so similar,” said Wilder about Joshua and Klitschko. “They’re so stiff. No head movement. Joshua proved a lot in that fight, but he also revealed a lot too. He also revealed some cheap moves,” said Wilder about Joshua.
For the Joshua-Klitschko rematch, I think Wladimir needs to bulk up to at least 249 lbs. Wladimir was way too light last saturday in coming in at 240 compared to Joshua’s 250. Wladimir needs a little more muscle for the rematch because he looked stringy and weak at times compared to Joshua. WLadimir was strong at 249 when he fought Tony Thompson in their second fight in 2012.
Wladimir would have more size to deal with Joshua’s size. He was getting knocked around by Joshua when he would bump into him last Saturday. That wouldn’t have been like that if Wladimir was a little bit heavier than he was. 250 would be a good weight for Wladimir. He needs to be bigger against guys that are going to be bulking up to 250 like Joshua did. When Wladimir fought the 6’7″ Mariusz Wach in 2012, he weighed 247 lbs. and he had enough size to compete with him. Against Joshua,. Wladimir was too light at times once he started to fade in the later rounds. I don’t think Joshua would have been around past the 6th if Wladimir had a little more muscle and if he’d gone for the knockout the way he should have.
