Round-By-Round - Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko - April 29th 2017

[danconnollyeire]

That's done more for vlads legacy than 95% of his defences.

It also makes Haye — at 6'1" or so in reality — look better.

Why? For one Haye is 6'3 pushing 6,4 so only about 2.5 inches shorter than Wlad and brought no game to their fight

[Horse]

he will have to go up a couple of places, at least

I only have 24 hours to figure out a way to justify keeping him outside of the top 10.

[forcefraser]

Enjoyed that so much. Joshua looked gone at the end of round 5 and when he went down in 6 I thought it was curtains. He showed massive knackers to get hi second wind and he stuck at it until he got it, fair play.

Great fight.

[rossij8]

he will have to go up a couple of places, at least

I only have 24 hours to figure out a way to justify keeping him outside of the top 10.

[Horse]

Is the Joshua overhype over now?

Almost everyone seems to be being pretty reasonable after this fight?

[danconnollyeire]

Is the Joshua overhype over now?

Almost everyone seems to be being pretty reasonable after this fight?

He's the best sportsperson of the last 50 years

[Horse]

He's the best sportsperson of the last 50 years

When I wake up later, reality will come crashing in on me.

Can you let me pretend for now?

[chiggsy]

ALLAHU AHKBAAR

[Grilling Machine]

That's done more for vlads legacy than 95% of his defences.

It also makes Haye — at 6'1" or so in reality — look better.

Why? For one Haye is 6'3 pushing 6,4 so only about 2.5 inches shorter than Wlad and brought no game to their fight

Wlad's a genuine 6'5" and Haye scrapes 6'2" at best. I think that Haye comes out of this looking better because the prime Klitschko never had him in serious trouble, whereas he rocked the bigger man tonight with another six years on his clock. Haye dealt with Klitschko's movement as well as Joshua, which means that he dealt with it better given his size.

[Horse]

Wlad's a genuine 6'5" and Haye scrapes 6'2" at best. I think that Haye comes out of it looking better because the prime Klitschko didn't have him in serious trouble, whereas he rocked the bigger man tonight with another six years on his clock.

Joshua went for it, Haye didn't.

I don't see how Haye looks better because of this.

[Grilling Machine]

You're not wrong about Joshua going for it, but when Klitschko went looking for him he sometimes found him. Sure, Haye went to ground a few times to stay out of trouble, but he was more elusive for my money. Klitschko would've chased him down if he'd offered no threat.

[broomy7s]

Does anyone know what happened to Okolie and Kelly ?

I heard Booth took Kelly off the bill after the draw for fight time slots as he didn't want him being a floater, Kelly was not on the schedule posted by matchroom on friday night. Okolie has tweeted that he was told he wouldn't get on as Quigg fight went the full 12, however I've read that the ring had to be re-layed and thats the reason why, maybe someone who went can confirm this.

[Grilling Machine]

Did anyone else notice how stony-faced Lewis was when AJ gave him a shoutout after the fight? In contrast to happy-as-Larry Holyfield. I wonder if he's jealous?

He had no problem congratulating Haye after his Valuev win, and I suspect that's because it went unsaid that Haye wouldn't have beaten him. Now we, as fans, know that Lewis would've handled AJ comfortably (barring a flash knockdown), but that's not how Joshua's gonna be reported from here on. For as long as he holds his perfect record, casuals will increasingly be sold the idea that he might be even better than Lewis was at the same age.

[Andrew]

Is the Joshua overhype over now?

Almost everyone seems to be being pretty reasonable after this fight?

No he proved he is the GOAT last night.

[Andrew]

he will have to go up a couple of places, at least

I only have 24 hours to figure out a way to justify keeping him outside of the top 10.

He is top 5 easy now.

[samwbr]

It also makes Haye — at 6'1" or so in reality — look better.

Why? For one Haye is 6'3 pushing 6,4 so only about 2.5 inches shorter than Wlad and brought no game to their fight

Wlad's a genuine 6'5" and Haye scrapes 6'2" at best. I think that Haye comes out of this looking better because the prime Klitschko never had him in serious trouble, whereas he rocked the bigger man tonight with another six years on his clock. Haye dealt with Klitschko's movement as well as Joshua, which means that he dealt with it better given his size.

[youngrell]

What a great fight and a top effort from both men who come out of the fight with more fans each, I'm sure.

Thought Wlad left Joshua off the hook big time, he could barely stand straight for about 2 and a half rounds and Wlad uncharacteristically just swung wild left hooks the whole time, when a simple 1-2 probably would have done the business.

Fair play to Joshua, though. He did exactly what he needed to in not throwing many punches until he recovered and landed some lovely shots to end it.

My stream died half way through 10 and it only came back as Wlad was getting up from the second kd in 11, and initially I thought the stoppage was premature as Joshua didn't really land anything in the final exchange and Wlad seemed ok. After then seeing replays of the 2 kd's I can understand the refs call.

Would love to see it again but I don't think Wlad could improve on that and would lose earlier next time.

[Deno1986]

Fantastic performance by both men. Definitely a missed opportunity for Klitschko by letting AJ off the hook in the 7th and 8th rounds.

I'm surprised there hasn't been more mentioned about the scorecards though. AJ was up by 3 on one and 2 on the other going into the 11th. Wladimir was being set up to be screwed if it went the distance. I had him up by 3 and after having a scan over a few round-by-round threads that seemed to be the general consensus.

[smiling assassin]

Full credit to Anthony Joshua, showed real heart also his chin held up against a massive puncher ( which I thought it wouldn't) so that's another box clicked. Klitschko put on a good performance just failed to let his hands go when Joshua seemed there for the taking. I thought he had hurt his right hand the way he seemed so reluctant to throw it. What a peach of a uppercut in the 11th by Joshua that shot there would of got all heavyweights going. Last nights fight makes Joshua numero uno of the heavyweights, the only man who beats him is Fury but that's for another thread

[dirk2686]

Full credit to Anthony Joshua, showed real heart also his chin held up against a massive puncher ( which I thought it wouldn't) so that's another box clicked. Klitschko put on a good performance just failed to let his hands go when Joshua seemed there for the taking. I thought he had hurt his right hand the way he seemed so reluctant to throw it. What a peach of a uppercut in the 11th by Joshua that shot there would of got all heavyweights going. Last nights fight makes Joshua numero uno of the heavyweights, the only man who beats him is Fury but that's for another thread

I think the reactions to the knockdowns were quite telling. Both are massive punchers, and by the time Wlad dropped Joshua he was obviously aware of this. Joshua's mistake for the fifth round was swarming in to try and end it and getting caught, which directly led to him getting badly hurt and dropped. You always, always here fighters being warned of getting caught when trying to finish and Wlad was surely aware of this, hence his reluctance to swarm in. He's never been a rapid-fire finisher; I think he was hoping a worn out Joshua would never recover and he'd be able to take control in the upcoming rounds, but Joshua's ability to recover was obviously something of a surprise.

Later it seemed Joshua had definitely learned from his earlier mistakes. He took a lot more time stepping in after the first knockdown in the eleventh.

[Old Jack J]

Hopefully Joshua has learnt to stop putting the muscle on. He doesn't need to get heavier. I was shocked at how quickly he fell apart in the 5th after he knocked Wlad down. It wasn't exactly a prolonged attack that put Wlad down.

Would dropping a stone help his endurance?

[smiling assassin]

Full credit to Anthony Joshua, showed real heart also his chin held up against a massive puncher ( which I thought it wouldn't) so that's another box clicked. Klitschko put on a good performance just failed to let his hands go when Joshua seemed there for the taking. I thought he had hurt his right hand the way he seemed so reluctant to throw it. What a peach of a uppercut in the 11th by Joshua that shot there would of got all heavyweights going. Last nights fight makes Joshua numero uno of the heavyweights, the only man who beats him is Fury but that's for another thread

I think the reactions to the knockdowns were quite telling. Both are massive punchers, and by the time Wlad dropped Joshua he was obviously aware of this. Joshua's mistake for the fifth round was swarming in to try and end it and getting caught, which directly led to him getting badly hurt and dropped. You always, always here fighters being warned of getting caught when trying to finish and Wlad was surely aware of this, hence his reluctance to swarm in. He's never been a rapid-fire finisher; I think he was hoping a worn out Joshua would never recover and he'd be able to take control in the upcoming rounds, but Joshua's ability to recover was obviously something of a surprise.

Later it seemed Joshua had definitely learned from his earlier mistakes. He took a lot more time stepping in after the first knockdown in the eleventh.

Agree with what your saying mate he looked like he was content with just keeping Joshua under control with good footwork and his left hand but it came back to haunt him when he got tagged. If Klitscko had the killer instinct in him I think he would of had Joshua out of there

[youngrell]

Fantastic performance by both men. Definitely a missed opportunity for Klitschko by letting AJ off the hook in the 7th and 8th rounds.

I'm surprised there hasn't been more mentioned about the scorecards though. AJ was up by 3 on one and 2 on the other going into the 11th. Wladimir was being set up to be screwed if it went the distance. I had him up by 3 and after having a scan over a few round-by-round threads that seemed to be the general consensus.

I was shocked to see the official scores too. Two of the judges had Joshua winning all 5 opening rounds, which didn't seem right to me.

Had Wlad seen the 11th out though, I think Joshua would have been ahead going into 12.

[dirk2686]

Fantastic performance by both men. Definitely a missed opportunity for Klitschko by letting AJ off the hook in the 7th and 8th rounds.

I'm surprised there hasn't been more mentioned about the scorecards though. AJ was up by 3 on one and 2 on the other going into the 11th. Wladimir was being set up to be screwed if it went the distance. I had him up by 3 and after having a scan over a few round-by-round threads that seemed to be the general consensus.

I was shocked to see the official scores too. Two of the judges had Joshua winning all 5 opening rounds, which didn't seem right to me.

Had Wlad seen the 11th out though, I think Joshua would have been ahead going into 12.

The opening rounds were tight but I don't think it's beyond imagination to suggest Joshua did a bit more.

I've seen quite a few live scorecards that had it close.Boxing News magazine had it level going into the tenth, so give that to Joshua and he's one up going into the round it ended. If that can be the case then one either way probably isn't too bad.

[youngrell]

Fantastic performance by both men. Definitely a missed opportunity for Klitschko by letting AJ off the hook in the 7th and 8th rounds.

I'm surprised there hasn't been more mentioned about the scorecards though. AJ was up by 3 on one and 2 on the other going into the 11th. Wladimir was being set up to be screwed if it went the distance. I had him up by 3 and after having a scan over a few round-by-round threads that seemed to be the general consensus.

I was shocked to see the official scores too. Two of the judges had Joshua winning all 5 opening rounds, which didn't seem right to me.

Had Wlad seen the 11th out though, I think Joshua would have been ahead going into 12.

The opening rounds were tight but I don't think it's beyond imagination to suggest Joshua did a bit more.

I've seen quite a few live scorecards that had it close.Boxing News magazine had it level going into the tenth, so give that to Joshua and he's one up going into the round it ended. If that can be the case then one either way probably isn't too bad.

It was more the opening rounds scoring that shocked me. They were tight but Wlad was clearly dictating things in the beginning. Held centre of ring and jabbed Joshua's head off and moved out of range quickly each time.