Anthony Joshua boxing news
By Scott Gilfoid: IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and the aging past his best 40-year-old Wladmir Klitschko have reportedly agreed to a fight on December 10. According to The Guardian, Joshua and Klitschko will be splitting up $36 million [£30m] for their fight.
With that kind of cash at stake, it’s not surprising that the faded Klitschko has chosen to put himself at a disadvantage by agreeing to fight Joshua in the UK rather than insisting on fighting in a neutral venue.
By Scott Gilfoid: Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn is saying the mega-fight between IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (17-0, 17 KOs) and 40-year-old Wladimir Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs) is agreed on for December 10. The venue for the Joshua-Klitschko fight is at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
It’s not a good situation for Klitschko to agree to fight in the UK, because he’s the type of fighter who seems to do better when he has the boxing fans on his side rather than rooting against him. If you look at Wladimir’s fight against Tyson Fury last November, Wladimir seemed to be uncomfortable when the fans were cheering for Fury.
By Scott Gilfoid: If and when IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua faces Wladimir Klitschko, he’s going to “easily” beat him, according to former WBA belt holder David Haye, who failed in his own attempt at defeating Klitschko five years ago in July 2011. Haye blamed his loss to Wladimir on a toe problem.
The reality was that Haye just wasn’t good enough. Haye believes that the 26-year-old Joshua will have no problems defeating the now 40-year-old Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs). Haye sees Wladimir as having aged and lost a significant part of his game.
By Scott Gilfoid: Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn says he’s interested in matching IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua against Luis Ortiz in 2017 IF the fight is a big enough one to make. Hearn recently signed the 37-year-old Ortiz (25-0, 22 KOs) to his Matchroom stable last week, and he would like to turn him into a world champion and star.
The only way for Hearn to do that is to match the Cuban heavyweight Ortiz against Joshua unless he can arrange a title shot for him against WBC champion Deontay Wilder or against the winner of the Joseph Parker vs. Andy Ruiz Jr. for the WBO belt.
By Dominic Chapman: After years of being in the darkness and outshone by the more exciting lighter weight divisions, big time heavyweight boxing looks to be back. With Wladimir Klitschko’s dominance and not so exciting fighting style, not to mention lack of challengers with real pedigree many fans have became disillusioned with the sports glamour division.
It took Britain’s Tyson Fury to dethrone the long reigning heavyweight King Klitschko in Germany and get fans talking about the heavyweights again. However with a rematch clause in the contract the two were scheduled to fight again and with the first fight not being the most entertaining of bouts, it would be a fight mainly for the hardcore boxing fans and not one to capture the public’s imagination.
By Scott Gilfoid: David Haye is talking about the mega fight between IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko being done with their negotiations. Just how Haye would know is the big question. Hopefully, Haye isn’t jumping the gun just so that he can get attention to himself. That would utterly sad. The fight IS expected to be made this week, according to Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn.
”Great to hear Joshua-Klitschko is done. Timing is everything & the time now is perfect for AJ.🇬🇧 Reminds me of Ali 👴🏾Vs Berbick #FatherTime,” said Haye on his social media site.
Hearn isn’t saying that the Joshua vs. Klitschko fight is done, so I have to assume that Haye is just blabbering without knowing the real details. Honestly, I can’t see the Joshua-Klitschko fight getting done until the World Boxing Association strips heavyweight champion Tyson Fury of his WBA strap.
By Scott Gilfoid: IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn truly believes the fight between him and Wladimir Klitschko can get made for November 26. Hearn is working on trying to finalize the last remaining small points so that he can announce the fight this week. Hearn says that if the fight isn’t done by the end of this week, then there might be a problem in getting it done. If that happens, Hearn will need to find someone in a real hurry to fight Joshua by November 26. I can imagine Dereck Chisora, David Price or Dillian Whyte being trotted out to fight Joshua in a showcase fight.
Any of those three guys would be totally over-matched against Joshua. None of those guys have done anything to rate a world title shot, and yet we’d still likely see one of them signed up to fight Joshua if Hearn can’t get the Klitschko fight signed for that date.
Hearn has already put the Manchester Arena on hold for November 26, so he’s going to need to find a replacement opponent quickly if he can’t make the deal with Klitschko by the end of the week. They also need to make sure that the World Boxing Association title is on the line for the fight.
By Scott Gilfoid: It looks like Joseph Parker (21-0, 18 KOs) will be fighting for the World Boxing Organization heavyweight title in his next fight rather than the IBF strap, which means he’ll either be fighting Andy Ruiz Jr. or Wladimir Klitschko next. Parker looked spectacular last Saturday night in obliterating Alexander Dimitrenko (38-3, 24 KOs) in three rounds in New Zealand.
Eddie Hearn, the promoter for IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, is trying to put together a fight between Joshua and Klitschko. But in doing so, Hearn has left Parker sitting and waiting to see what will happen with that fight. However, Parker and his promoter Dean Lonergan are not going to wait.
By Scott Gilfoid: Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn feels fairly confident that he’ll be able to put together a fight between his fighter IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (17-0, 17 KOs) and Wladimir Klitschko for November 26.
Hearn says that he’s looking to get a certain amount for Joshua that he feels he’s worth for the fight against the 40-year-old two-time world champion Wladimir. If Hearn fails to get his asking price, then he intends on moving on and having Joshua fight someone like Joseph Parker or someone else for the November 26. A fight between Joshua and Parker makes a lot of sense right now as a backup plan, but Hearn might not want that fight after how impressive Parker looked in demolishing the 6’7” Alexander Dimitrenko last Saturday night in New Zealand.
By Scott Gilfoid: It looks like unbeaten heavyweight contender Joseph Parker may not need to bother waiting around for a title shot against IBF champion Anthony Joshua, because he could wind up fighting for a title on December 10 against unbeaten Andy Ruiz Jr. Parker destroyed Alexander Dimitrenko in three rounds last Saturday night in New Zealand in a stay busy fight.
The 24-year-old Parker could be about to fight Ruiz Jr. for a career high payday for one of the two heavyweight titles that champion Tyson Fury still has in his possession. Fury may be soon stripped of his WBA and WBO titles for him allegedly testing positive for cocaine. If that happens, then one of those titles could be available for Parker and the Top Rank promoted Ruiz to fight over.