By Scott Gilfoid: Showtime boss Stephen Espinoza expects a decision to be revealed soon about the November rematch between IBF, WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko for Las Vegas, Nevada. This is the 6’5” Joshua’s big chance to win over the U.S fans by beating Klitschko in the States.
It would be a first step towards Joshua earning a name in the U.S. He would still need to prove that he can beat talents like WBC champion Deontay Wilder, Luis “King Kong” Ortiz and Joseph Parker. Those are going to be tough fighters for Joshua to handle, as he seems to have a stamina problem. Joshua gassed out against Klitschko in his last fight. He also gassed out against Dillian Whyte.
Klitschko, 41, hasn’t said whether he’ll be taking the fight with Joshua or not. However, it’s expected that he will indeed be facing Joshua in November. There’s too much money available, and it gives Wladimir the chance to show the boxing world that he was the better fighter all along.
“It feels like it’s coming to a head,” Espinoza said to skysports.com. I think a decision is forthcoming pretty quickly.”
This is good news for boxing fans that are looking forward to seeing Joshua and Klitschko go at it once again. If the second fight is anywhere as good as the first one, the fans will be in for a real treat. The best thing of all is the fight will be in a neutral venue this time instead of in front of large crowd of Joshua supporters like in the first fight. Wladimir not only gave Joshua home advantage, but he also took the fight following a 2-year layoff from boxing.
Wladimir hadn’t fought since 2015 when he took the match against Joshua. That wasn’t a good deal for Wladimir. If the shoe was on the other foot and Joshua was 41 and coming off of a 2-year layoff, I don’t think for a second that he would have agreed to fight Wladimir straightaway in front of 90,000 of Wladimir’s fans. You’ve got to give Wladimir a ton of credit for fighting as well as he did given all the things were going against him in the fight.
Well, if Wladimir chooses not to take the fight, you can understand that as well. He’s 41, and he’s been fighting a long time. I’d like to see how well Joshua is competing when he’s 41. I’d be very surprised if Joshua is still in boxing by that age. There would be too many young lions that would be taking advantage of Joshua’s stamina issues. I imagine that Joshua’s stamina won’t get better as he gets older. If this is as good as it gets with Joshua’s career, then I don’t see him ripening like fine wine as he gets into his late 30s and early 40s.
You can make an argument that Wladimir should have pushed to have the rematch take place in Germany where he’s a huge star. Wladimir sells out football stadiums in Germany. He could easily sellout a large 50,000 seat stadium in a fight against Joshua. You can’t do that in the U.S due to Joshua and Wladimir not being huge stars over there.
That’s why I think it’s a bad idea for the fight to the staged in the U.S. They need to have the fight take place where it can make the most money. If that means Germany or the UK, then so be it. The name of the game is cash. They got to bring in the green stuff, and Germany or the UK would be the best place for the rematch. Of course, I don’t know that you would necessarily get Wladimir to agree to fight in the UK a second time. He already fought Joshua earlier this year in London, England in front of a large crowd of 90,000 boxing fans. By listening to the loud racket the crowd was making each Joshua would land anything of note, I would venture to guess that most of the fans were on his side. That gave Joshua a tremendous advantage over Wladimir.
“For many here in the US, it was their introduction to Anthony Joshua,” said Espinoza. “It is beginning to whet their appetite for seeing more.”
I don’t think this fight is going to turn Joshua into a big star in the U.S, not matter how good he looks. The boxing aren’t blind to the fact that Joshua is fighting a guy in his 40s. All you need to do is look at how old Wladimir looks in comparison to Joshua to see that this is a match-up involving a young lion facing an old lion. If you were to take Wladimir at 27 and put him in a time machine to 2017 to fight Joshua, I think he’d wipe the deck with him and give him a royal beating. That’s the way I see it.
There’s a big difference in boxing skills, power, hand speed, mobility and fluidity between the young Klitschko and Joshua. Heck, 41-year-old Wladimir looked like the faster, more powerful and better skilled fighter of the two. Can you imagine what a younger Klitschko would have done against Joshua in their April 29 fight? For Joshua to become a big star, he’s going to need to beat at least 8 highly talented heavyweights in addition to Wladimir. Here are the guys that Joshua will likely need to beat for him to become a big star in the U.S:
– Wladimir Klitschko
– Deontay Wilder
– Luis Ortiz
– Alexander Povetkin
– Tyson Fury
– Joseph Parker
– Kubrat Pulev
– David Haye