By Scott Gilfoid: IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua will be coming to the U.S soon to try and market his fight against inactive heavyweight Wladimir Klitschko on April 29 at Wembley Stadium in London, England. It seems that Joshua is going about it the wrong way to become popular in the U.S. Instead of fighting older guys coming off of a 2-year layoff and a loss, Joshua should be fighting the young lions like Deontay Wilder and Jarrell Miller. Fighting the 41-year-old Wladimir made sense 10 years ago, but not now.
The Joshua-Klitschko fight will be televised in the U.S on one of the premium channels – either HBO or Showtime. The good news for boxing fans in the States is that the Joshua vs. Klitschko fight won’t be on pay-per-view like it is in the UK. It’s not a sellable fight in the U.S.
Klitschko hasn’t fought in almost 2 years, and he’s coming off of a loss to Tyson Fury. I guess the only reason Joshua is fighting Klitschko at all is because he used to be a world champion for many years, and he’s better known than the other fighters in the heavyweight division in terms of worldwide notoriety. In other words, you can argue that the Joshua vs. Klitschko fight is a business fight rather than a real fight between two evenly matched fighters. Wladimir looks over-the-hill, and he’s looked that way since 2014 when he fought Bryant Jennings.
“You’ve got the UK market and then the other territory is America,” said Joshua to skysports.com “I am going there soon to promote and build the Klitschko fight and see the interest. I want it all, I want the attention and live for the glory nights. We are building stuff all the time so we won’t be denied when agreeing these big fights.”
I don’t know how much interest a fight between Joshua and Klitschko will generate in the U.S, but probably not a lot. There’s no buzz about the fight other than from the UK side. The British boxing fans love the Joshua-Klitschko fight. I don’t think they seem to care that Wladimir looks totally shot as a fighter. I’m just wondering who Wladimir will fight after he faces Joshua and loses to him. Will Wladimir fight Dillian Whyte on PPV in the UK or maybe Dereck Chisora? I think Wladimir needs to retire already. If that’s what Wladimir intends on doing if/when he loses to Joshua, then I can’t blame him for doing that. Getting a final payday against Joshua is a nice way for Klitschko to go out. But if he’s going to keep getting trotted out for other fighters to take his scalp to somehow validate their boxing careers, then I see that as a sad way for Klitschko to end up.
Joshua vs. Klitschko will probably bring in good ratings on HBO or Showtime in the U.S. I think it will bring in good ratings because of Klitschko having been around for so many years. But I don’t think it’s going to be a good product for the U.S boxing fans. I see Wladimir getting knocked out as soon as Joshua hits him with anything. The guy that will give Joshua problems is WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder due to his hand speed and power advantage. Wilder will be looking to KO Joshua with every punch he throws at him, and if he hits him with something big, he’ll go. Look at what Mihai Nistor and Dillian Whyte did to Joshua. Look at what Roberto Cammarelli did against Joshua in their two fights at the amateur level. I had Cammarelli winning both fights against Joshua. He lost them both by very controversial decision.
“Fingers crossed that I beat Klitschko, then we can look down the line to competing in America against the likes of Wilder,” said Joshua.
I think Joshua needs to be careful for what he wishes for because he could be crying crocodile tears after Wilder knocks him out. I’m just saying. Joshua may live to regret fighting Wilder. If Joshua loses to Wilder, then he needs to stay away from him and not fight him a second time. Could you imagine what Wilder would do to Joshua if he fought him twice? He could knock him out twice, and end Joshua’s days as a PPV attraction in the UK.