By Scott Gilfoid: Today in speaking with the boxing media, former heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs) said there are a lot of unknowns about his opponent IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (18-0, 18 KOs), who he’ll be fighting on April 29 at Wembley Stadium in London, England.
Wladimir said that the 27-year-old Joshua is still a very raw fighter at his age largely because he’s not been matched against good enough fighters for the boxing fans to learn much from him. He’s not been matched against good opponent opponents for him to get any real experience that you would see from fighters holding down titles.
Wladimir says one of the questions that you have to ask is whether the 6’7” Joshua is the new Frank Bruno. For the boxing fans that might not know who Bruno (40-5, 38 KOs) is, he’s a British heavyweight known for have huge muscles similar to Joshua, and who briefly held the WBC heavyweight title in 1995-96. Bruno was a big puncher, but arguably too muscular for his own good. Bruno did well most of his career, but the wheels came off the track when he was matched against Mike Tyson, James “Bone Crusher” Smith, Tim Witherspoon and Lennox Lewis. Bruno was twice knocked out by Tyson.
“Since he won the title, I’ve been one of his biggest fans,” said Klitschko about Joshua. “He’s an extremely talented guy. I think five years later; he’s going to be too hard to beat. Right now, he’s going to keep developing himself. He’s going to be really tough to beat. He’s got tremendous speed and power. He has more knowledge and experience. He’s still raw, even though he looks very impressive in his fights. At 27, I can see myself in him. I have my own estimation of what he can do. He’s going to be my biggest challenge. You’ve got so many questions about Anthony. We know he’s a world champion, but there’s another question. What is he going to do when his opponent doesn’t have fear? What is he going to do when he gets hit again and again and again? What is he going to have to do when he’s going to need to get up and fight back? What is he going to do when the fight isn’t at his own pace or when he needs to go backwards? Is he the new Frank Bruno? Is he incapable of handling it properly? So there are a lot of questions for himself that can only be answered in an actual fight. I think so [that Joshua hasn’t been tested]. In 18 fights, there were no big names where you can say at least that guy had experience. You will know the truth. There’s a lot of question. Do I still got it? Is he good enough now? The interest is amazing [from boxing fans]. I’m happy about it, because it’s an upgrade in my career to fight on the biggest stage in front of 90,000 people. I’ve never fought in front of so many people. I have 40,50, 60, but never 90. It’s the toughest challenge I’ve ever had, because in a certain way, he’s a copy of me size-wise and records in a certain way and Olympians and a world champion in professional sport like I was,” said Klitschko.
Joshua may be very beatable, but the 41-year-old Wladimir is probably too old and past it to expose him. Joshua doesn’t look to be any better than the fighter that won a controversial gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics in beating Roberto Cammarelle, Erislandy Savon and Ivan Dychko. Joshua doesn’t look improved since being stopped by Mihai Nistor in 2011. The only thing that’s changed is Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has been matching him well since he turned pro in 2013.
When told that Joshua has been talking about having seen flaws in his game during their sparring sessions three years ago in 2014, Klitschko said, “That’s interesting. Why am I going to lose my words here? These two tools [Wladimir holds up his two fists to show the reporter]. You cannot buy experience in a shop. You’ve got to gain it through experience. You’ve got to get it in the ring and training facilities and fights and that is something that is an advantage, and I believe so and I’m sure,” said Klitschko.
I don’t know how much Joshua can get from a sparring session with Wladimir that took place three years ago. The sparring sessions were reportedly competitive but not one-sided. If Joshua is still thinking about those sessions, then it sounds like desperation and insecurity. If Joshua can’t beat Wladimir at this point in time, then that’s not a good sign. It could mean that he is another Frank Bruno.
One thing that is pretty clear in looking at the poor opposition that has been fed to Joshua since he turned pro is that most of them failed to let their hands go. They just stood there and let Joshua bombard them with shots. The only guy that threw punches back at Joshua was Dillian Whyte, who staggered him with a left hook. Whyte came into the fight with a shoulder injury, which got worse after he hurt Joshua.
All we know from that fight was Joshua was hurt by a non-puncher, and he was essentially saved when Whyte’s injured shoulder was too hurt for him to use that arm for the reminder of the fight. Joshua’s other opponents since then have failed to throw punches, and he’s won by default. The big question what happens when/if Wladimir hits Joshua with a big power shot? I say if because Wladimir didn’t show in his last fight against Tyson Fury that he’s capable of throwing power punches. If Wladimir fights like he’s afraid to throw punches against Joshua, then he’ll be just like his previous opponents and he’ll surely lose the fight and lose it quickly.
It’ll be interesting to see if Joshua can get back up and continue fighting if he gets knocked down by Klitschko. The boxing fans would get a chance to see how Joshua handles adversity. We know that Joshua looked totally unnerved when he fought Mihai Nistor in 2011 and he started to get belted around the ring. We know that after Joshua was staggered by Nistor in round 3, Joshua looked totally frightened and the referee stopped the fight. If the fight had been allowed to continue, I think Nistor would have finished him off with bigger left hands to the head. Nistor was really working Joshua over in that fight from round 1. He was faster than Joshua, and he had made sure that each time he came forward, he was looking to take his head odd with his punches.