Wladimir still hasn’t committed to Joshua rematch

By Boxing News - 06/09/2017 - Comments

Image: Wladimir still hasn’t committed to Joshua rematch

By Jeff Aranow: In what has to be seen as worrisome for Anthony Joshua and his management, former heavyweight world champion Wladimir Klitschko still hasn’t decided whether he’ll be resuming his boxing. It was thought that the 41-year-old Klitschko would have made a decision by now about returning to the ring following his 11th round knockout loss to Joshua earlier this year on April 29 at Wembley Stadium in London, England.

Wladimir had done well in the fight in knocking the 27-year-old Joshua down once in the 6th, and had performed at a high level throughout. Ultimately, Wladimir lost the fight more so because of his poor decision making rather than him being outclassed.

“Soon I will have to decide whether to step up to the return fight against Anthony Joshua or not. Everybody is speculating. I have not made a decision yet,” said Wladimir via Fight News.

Wladimir should have made a decision by now. It’s been 2 months. It doesn’t look good that he still hasn’t decided what to do. If a fighter can’t make up his mind after 2 months whether he wants to continue or not, it tells me that they don’t want to keep fighting. You’ve got to want it. Wladimir doesn’t seem to want it at this point. Wladimir doesn’t need money. For normal fighters, they fight for survival much of the time when they haven’t made a fortune in boxing. Wladimir is set for life with all the money that he’s made during his long 21-year pro career.

Wladimir hasn’t needed money in a long time. So if he chooses to continue fighting now, it’s just for the love of boxing instead of for a need of money. Wladimir might not have the incentive needed for him to continue fighting. In contrast, Joshua is a young lion, and he’s still hungry despite him made a small fortune himself. Joshua is driven. Wladimir will need a lot of grit for him to beat a guy as young and as motivated as Joshua.

It doesn’t look good that the 41-year-old Wladimir hasn’t made his decision yet to resume his boxing career or not. If the Ukrainian star is that conflicted about whether to fight Joshua a second time, it gives a clear sign that he’s got some concerns there. It’s pretty easy to understand why Wladimir might not rwant to come back for a second fight against the 6’6” Joshua. Things went reasonably well for Wladimir in him fighting better than many people thought he would. Wladimir said it himself this past week when said that he’s getting a lot appreciation from the fans.

The fans were pleased with how exciting his fight was with Joshua. If Wladimir returns for a second fight against Joshua, it could be a much different fight. Wladimir might get knocked out quickly in the rematch. If Wladimir loses badly, he would be sent into retirement on a low note instead of a relatively high note. Ultimately, it boils down to Wladimir’s self-belief. If Wladimir has enough confidence in himself to picture him doing well in the rematch with big Joshua, then he will likely return to the ring to fight him a second time.

If, however, Wladimir has grave concerns about his ability to win this fight, then he probably won’t be returning to the ring to fight Joshua again. The way that Wladimir is prolonging his decision making on returning to the ring for the rematch, it tells me that he doesn’t have the confidence needed for him to continue his career. In that case, Wladimir needs to retire and forget about Joshua. He won’ win if he comes into the rematch with a wracked with self-doubt. Wladimir MUST believe in himself to have any chance of winning.

In looking at the interaction between Wladimir and his trainer Jonathan Banks during the Joshua fight, it looked more like Wladimir was in control rather than him taking directions and following what was being said. If Wladimir’s trainer from the past Emanuel Steward was in his corner for the Joshua fight, he might have won the fight.

Steward would have barked orders and told Wladimir to go out and finish off Joshua after he had him hurt in the 6th. Wladimir went out for the 7th round and boxed Joshua, and he didn’t try ad knock him out. Joshua was tired and hurt, and definitely ready to be knocked out Without Steward, Wladimir seemed to follow his own instincts, which was for him to play it safe and box rather than go for the knockout. Those instincts were bad, because it allowed Joshua to recover and get back into the fight when he came on in the 11th round to knock Wladimir down two times and stop him.

If Wladimir decides to take the rematch with Joshua, then he should consider getting another trainer, because I don’t think he needs new blood at this point. Wladimir has lost his last 2 fights to Joshua and Tyson Fury. In both of those fights, Wladimir failed to attack his opponents when he needed to. Even Wladimir’s brother Vitali Klitschko tried to encourage him to go on the attack in the Tyson Fury fight, and he wouldn’t do it.

Banks was Wladimir’s trainer for that fight as well. That’s a clear sign that Wladimir needs a change in his corner. He needs someone that is strong and can drive home the directions, because it seems pretty clear that Wladimir’s first instinct is to fight passively. Steward was able to motivate Wladimir to fight aggressively.

I don’t see that happening with Banks. There are some good trainers out there that could help Wladimir fight in a more aggressive style. I just don’t now that he’s willing to change trainers. He seems like he’s going to stay loyal to Banks. That’s too bad because I don’t believe that Wladimir can win with Banks in a rematch with Joshua. If Wladimir won’t follow the instructions from Banks, then he’ll have no chance against Joshua, because he won’t fight aggressively enough for him to knock him out when he gets tired or hurt.