By Evans Joseph
In an expected slobber knocker, the heavyweight bout between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko ended in a spectacular 11th round knockout. After a tough fight, Klitschko fell after several vicious uppercuts dished out by Joshua, resulting in a TKO.
The Englishman Joshua looked great in the opening rounds, establishing his jab early on and often setting the pace of the fight. Klitschko was rather unimpressive in those opening rounds and looked stiff when avoiding Joshua’s aggressive fight style. Klitschko, showing his experience, often threw fake jabs to bait Joshua but he wouldn’t bite. Instead, he watched Klitschko and set his shots, landing his punches. Joshua was out-boxing the champion.
Klitschko’s last fight was against Tyson Fury, which he lost by unanimous decision. Although both Fury and Klitschko cited it was difficult to land punches on each other, Fury ended up out-boxing Klitschko. Klitschko said that he couldn’t find the right distance to land the shots that he wanted, but still congratulated Fury on his victory. In the win, Fury earned the WBA, WBO, IBF, IBO, and “The Ring” heavyweight titles from Klitschko.
This bout took flight at the start of Round 5, where Joshua came out his corner swinging and landing heavy blows. A nasty left hook devastates Klitschko and Joshua continues to attack. In a flurry that cut Klitschko’s left eye, he has also knocked down for the first time this fight. If you counted Klitschko out after that, you’d be wrong. Before the round is over Klitschko lands several hard hits of his own, leaving Joshua groggy. Even though he couldn’t recover the points he lost from the knockdown, Klitschko still left his mark on Joshua that round.
Klitschko would go on to dominate the next few minutes of the fight, Joshua forgetting that he had knocked him down. He had lost his jab, and Klitschko was adamant on setting his. Klitschko showed his veteran prowess by standing tall with his younger opponent and matching his energy. In the 6th round, Klitschko lands his trademarked right hand and folds Joshua, delivering him his first ever knockdown. Klitschko will go on to overpower him for the next few rounds.
Anthony Joshua knocked out his last opponent, Eric Molina, in the 3rd round. Joshua is currently undefeated and needless to say a promising force in the heavyweight division. He has knocked out all his opponents and hasn’t gone past the 7th round in his bouts.
In the 10th round, after recovering from his 6th round knockdown, Joshua catches his second wind and jumps on Klitschko yet again. He carries this same energy when he delivers a brutal uppercut to Klitschko in the 11th round. Staggered, Klitschko tries to defend himself but is overpowered by Joshua’s strength. An uppercut and hook combo floors Klitschko again. An unrelenting flurry causes the referee to stop the fight. Joshua remains undefeated and keeps his heavyweight titles.
