Just popping in to have a word on the boxing pre-fight build up.
Klitschko is Joshua's biggest test- let's not beat around the bush. But even at his very best he doesn't lace the gloves of the elite heavyweights (Joshua calls him a top 5 all time heavyweight.) Not in my eyes.
I've just had another long look through his record. It's a padded out, long dominant reign of beating nobodies. He has stood out in an era of absolute ****e. He was one of two fighters in the 2000s who had a professional athletes body. I cannot believe the substandard of the division when I look back at it and it annoys me that he is rated so highly. He's a good heavyweight, strong and excellent technique, but great? Pull the other one.
Vitali Klitschko is the real top heavyweight of the two brothers in my view.
Tyson Fury, who lest we forget had actually had close fights with the likes of mighty Derek Chisora before he fought Wladmir, completely boggled Klitschko simply by having a similar reach and threatening to land a jab or beat Klitschko to it. The Ukrainian was so scared of it that he never threw a right hand all night. When he doesn't have dominance, he doesn't like it. And Fury wasn't even aggressive.
If Joshua is the real deal, he should have too much for a 41 year old Wladmir.
BUT....Joshua hasn't really shown the Olympic pedigree you would expect just yet in terms of skills. He has to show a bit more variety on Saturday against a cautious and textbook style that Wlad has. He has the hand speed and has the power yes, but personally I'd like to see him emulate a bit of Klitschko (bizarre I know given my criticism) and use his reach and power to sit behind a jab with more patience. That could be his one undoing- fighting in straight lines and reaching in too early.
Rob McCracken is one of the shrewdest trainers you will see though, and he steered Carl Froch really well (another fighter criticised for poor foot movement) I think there will be a punch in the locker that they have worked on- either the left hook or the right uppercut. Klitschko is set up to avoid flush straight/overhand right hands thanks to the teachings of the late great Emmanuel Steward (who did similar with Lennox Lewis) and that is why Joshua has to show more than a straight left right combo with a bit of head movement.
Joshua should take Klitschko apart if he is patient and waits for the right opportunities and picks the right shots at the right time. But he is only 18 fights in and maybe he's a young lion that could make a mistake.
If he shows patience and variety, he wins spectacularly and inside the distance. Probably in the second third of the fight.
If he hasn't added to his game, it might become awkward and messy, and he could get frustrated.
Left hook to either do the damage or set up the right hand KO for me.
it's a good fight for both parties at this stage of their careers.
An epic of a heavyweight contest by any era standard, and we have waited over a decade for that.
Joshua takes the win yet Klitschko is the man who takes away the most credit. It's a funny old sport!
It was a fight that had all the things we talked about. Joshua's inexperience against Klitschkos ring craft, Joshua's raw power and speed against Klitschkos chin. Two eras colliding, and going hammer and tongues for 11 rounds. It was perfect for the division.
In my pre fight ramble, I said Josh would need to show variety and patience. Unfortunately we didn't see that until the end. There were times in there that he got schooled, to be frank about it. There were times it was obvious that we had an 18 fight Novice against a 64 fight top level operator.
But that's not Joshua's fault...
What was made certain tonight is that in the heavyweight division, and I have said this before, is that there are no fighters in between the bottom and world level where a future champion can learn his craft. There is no way Eddie Hearn would have put Josh in there tonight if Klitschko hadn't lost to Fury. It would have been deemed too early.
Back in the day there were fighters who you could test yourself against and you knew if you couldn't beat them, you could forget world level. The division had been so poor that the jump to Klitschko is a big one....with nothing in between.
AJ hurt Klitschko in R5 but made the fatal mistake of leaning in and taking the deadly short, heavy right hand. It was the vulnerability I mentioned and I could not believe how silly he was. How he clung on I do not know.
AJ learnt more tonight than in his entire career. It was a perfect fight in many ways, and Wlad deserves a rematch if he fancied it.
Opinion will remain divided, and that suits me.
