IF Klitschko Wins...

[Counter-puncher]

Perhaps I'm being overly simplistic, but I think AJ is going to walk through wlad in a round or two. When Wlad was younger, he was undone by lateral movement and a bang (i.e. Corey Saunders).

Joshua has little or no sideways movement,but he is fighting a 41 year old static target - and he can definitely bang.

Me too

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Tyson Fury got STRAIGHT UP after being dropped and was more surprised to be on his back than anything else.
Joshua looked ill at ease. That's the difference.

Wait is rufus trying to sell a knockdown as not being as bad as getting briefly wobbled?

You can never quite tell with him, but that's my impression. He already had me going comparing wlad to Drago.

[Spiker]

When has Wlad struggled with anyone as orthodox as AJ?........ Never.
Besides his punch power which wlad can nullify what else is there apart from youth.
I think Aj walks straight into a jab, right hand, left hook in about 3 rounds.
I find myself wanting this to happen though so I could be wrong lol

[Ossyrules]

When has Wlad struggled with anyone as orthodox as AJ?........ Never.
Besides his punch power which wlad can nullify what else is there apart from youth.
I think Aj walks straight into a jab, right hand, left hook in about 3 rounds.
I find myself wanting this to happen though so I could be wrong lol

I've said above I'd be amazed if Wlad is pulling the trigger like that after 3 rounds, absolutely amazed. We'll see fight night how it goes. I'm more than confident that Wlad isnt putting these combos together and getting AJ out of there in 3 though

[Happy Slapper]

Klitschko is going to be terrified of Joshua in there. The fight will be over before the first bell. Once he takes a right hand he will panic and do a Price. He's never had the heart but his natural size and being well skilled fundamentally, have made him never had to show heart to win. The times he had to show heart he looked dreadful. Unless he's overmatching his opponent, he won't win the fight. All Joshua has to do is come in game and let his hands go. Klitschko will fold, he's exactly the same as Price when the going gets tough. He's obviously several levels above price in every other department.

spot on

Didn't he get put down three times by Peter and still win? Can question his chin, but not his heart. He just fights defensively coz his chin isn't great.

[nitro5912]

Lets get this right. Whyte didnt almost get hin out of there. He caught him clean, joshuas legs wobbled. He saw the round out and gained his composure and came back to put whyte to sleep on the ropes.

Saying whyte almost got him out of there is like saying cunnigham almost KOd fury.

Tyson Fury got STRAIGHT UP after being dropped and was more surprised to be on his back than anything else.
Joshua looked ill at ease. That's the difference.

No the difference is that AJ took a big shot from a bloke who is a natural heavy, it wobbled him, he regained his senses then battered him.

Since when has being wobbled worse than getting knockdown? Either fury has a chin like Khan and cannot ride a punch or he was caught off balance and put on his arse. But in no way is it better than beinh wobbled.

[Rob3_142]

When has Wlad struggled with anyone as orthodox as AJ?........ Never.
Besides his punch power which wlad can nullify what else is there apart from youth.
I think Aj walks straight into a jab, right hand, left hook in about 3 rounds.
I find myself wanting this to happen though so I could be wrong lol

How do you conclude Joshua walks onto anything? When has he walked onto a punch so far in 18 fights? Yeah he hasn't fought top drawer opposition, but even the likes of Wilder and Parker still walk onto stuff, but not Joshua. He's defensively very astute, and the only way I see him walking onto something is if he gets frustrated and starts throwing erratically. I don't see that happening though. He and his corner know that the openings will be limited as Klitschko will be shutting up shop, and he needs to be patient, and look to perhaps soften him up from the body.

Maybe Klitschko can catch him on the counter, but I don't believe he has the hand speed.

[Bard of Boxrec]

I think he was better before the change personally.

Yep

[Tuan_Jim]

Were it not for his appalling fitness Samuel Peter could have closed the show on Klitschko in 2005 and spared us all a decade of tedium.

When Joshua inevitably hurts Klitschko he's going to be all over him, and the ungainly holding and spoiling that has served the Ukranian so well against second-raters won't work against a man this young, fit and determined.

It will be exciting if Wlad can somehow will himself into boxing in the old aggressive style, but more likely he'll be in the same state of spooked alarm that he was in versus Fury, wondering what happened to all those passive low skill fat guys they used to feed him. I expect the fight to be quick and am certain at some point that familiar look of frustrated despair will appear on Vitali Klitschko's face.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

You know what saved him more than Peter's ineptness? The cut against Williamson. He was going out in that one. Alas, the most fraudulent long title reign in boxing history would soon begin.

[Frazier71]

Some fans are convinced AJ is about to be exposed and cashing out with this one but from the look of his schedule I think he's pretty confident of a win here...

Thu 11 May 2017
An Evening with Anthony Joshua
indigo at The O2, Greenwich
Fri 12 May 2017
An Evening with Anthony Joshua
The Lowry, Salford Quays

[Tuan_Jim]

You know what saved him more than Peter's ineptness? The cut against Williamson. He was going out in that one. Alas, the most fraudulent long title reign in boxing history would soon begin.

Good call. Another one where a bloke stood up to Klitschko and suddenly it had the tense feel of a 50/50 fight, which always seems to start him teetering on the brink of collapse. The cut got him out of that one, Peter's limitations saved him the next time. No wonder after those two scares he opted to rematch Byrd for the IBF belt, rather than Brewster, who held his WBO strap and was at that point still smashing in faces. The new anti-fighting method stopped Ibragimov, Haye and Pov standing up to him, but was useless against Fury.

This is why I think AJ spells doom for Klit. Same size as him, same sort of power as TOS, Peter, Brewster, aggressive with it - the wild card is the chin, but I just can't see Klit having the guts to attack Joshua. And if Klit's own chin was fragile 12 years ago, it's going to be like eggshell at 40.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Yeah, his negativity won't benefit him here. You can't hug and lean on a guy that's staring you in the face. A friend of mine, cliff rold, and I argued for years about his p4p rating of wlad. His greatest attribute was size!

[Bodyshot3]

I still think Fury's win is a considerable achievement in its own right and whatever the outcome of AJ-Wlad.
He put everything together that night and it was a superb performance.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

He definitely deserves credit, it's the best win any current heavyweight has. Nothing superb about that fight. They were both embarrassing. Fury just has more balls, one of the worst title fights in boxing history.

[Bard of Boxrec]

Alas, the most fraudulent long title reign in boxing history would soon begin.

I sometimes wonder if wlad had had a crystal ball just before the 'rehabilitation' and could see the dreck he would be put in with over the ensuing 'reign', whether he would have bothered changing his style at all

[Tuan_Jim]

Alas, the most fraudulent long title reign in boxing history would soon begin.

I sometimes wonder if wlad had had a crystal ball just before the 'rehabilitation' and could see the dreck he would be put in with over the ensuing 'reign', whether he would have bothered changing his style at all

Hahaha - barring Ibragimov, Haye and Pov he probably could have stood his ground and squashed them all Schulz, Jefferson, Bostice style. And be much more popular!

[Bard of Boxrec]

Alas, the most fraudulent long title reign in boxing history would soon begin.

I sometimes wonder if wlad had had a crystal ball just before the 'rehabilitation' and could see the dreck he would be put in with over the ensuing 'reign', whether he would have bothered changing his style at all

Hahaha - barring Ibragimov, Haye and Pov he probably could have stood his ground and squashed them all Schulz, Jefferson, Bostice style. And be much more popular!

Not with the German dinner jacket crowd who are no doubt convinced he turned into a master technician

Wlads autobiography should be called "The Great Rehabilitation: Defending Myself Against The Indefensibles"

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Poor Rahman had to text wlad in between Rds. "Wtf dude, I'm shot to hell. Just here for a payday. Do I have to wear a fornicating sign. Kmtfo asshole!"

[Bard of Boxrec]

wlad was just too smart for shot rahman

[Bodyshot3]

Poor Rahman had to text wlad in between Rds. "Wtf dude, I'm shot to hell. Just here for a payday. Do I have to wear a effing sign. Kmtfo asshole!"

Text back from Wlad

"To Mr. Rahman, you are a signatory of a fully-binding K2 Promotions agreement, you are therefore contractually obliged to be outboxed and smacked about for a certain number of rounds so my guests can enjoy their black tie dinner. Please also remember there is no undercard."

"We have only just served the crab cocktail starter and chilled champagne - and I must say it looks delicious - so please hang in there and I would be most obliged if you could stop sweating and bleeding all over my Hugo Boss trunks and also refrain from calling me a moth** f**ker."

"Yours sincerely, Dr. Wladamir Klitschko. PS....would you like to attend the after party and meet Boris Becker and Angela Merkel?"

[Counter-puncher]