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

[samwbr]

Klitschko in his long reign of boxing nonviolence bored me to tears but he went out like a titan last night. What a fight!

I said in my prediction that it would be unusual for a 41 year old to change his MO but he really did take the fight to Joshua and I was amazed when he came off the floor to bash AJ around then deck him in the next round. The fight was his for the taking but, classic Klitschko, the lack of variety in his attacks allowed Joshua to dodge the worst of it. All he had to do was stay away for 6 minutes but, credit to him, he was at last trying to destroy a dangerous opponent. He was ahead by a country mile on my card. I feel so sorry for him.

Joshua is not a natural. Big game heroic brute who is short on boxing ability and is so musclebound he gasses after any sustained attack. He'll squash Wilder and Parker I'm sure, but if Fury can recapture his form I think he'll boss AJ easily.

I think he'll KO fury if he ever gets the chance. Could be 2 or 3 years down the line tho.

Do you think he'll get to Fury? I see Fury studying the Klit tape and keeping it all safely long range. Difficult to know what form Fury will be when he comes back though. Be a huge fight either way.

Wlad was as gunshy as anyone I've seen v fury, Joshua won't be. Fury did move well that night but he's going to have to fight v Joshua and I don't think he's got the power to keep Joshua off or stay on his feet.

[nitro5912]

In the early rounds when wlad was adopting a fury style of moving side to side joshua was still finding him and eventually got to him in the 5th.
I think wlad took the rounds he done what he does best keeping AJ at the end of his jab by keeping the arm long and walking him down.

I can see fury doing his dance routine but eventually he will eat joshuas leather and unlike when he fought wlad AJ will also pull the trigger to try and close the distance.

It would be an interesting fight, but fury won't trade he knows he won't handle the power he has massivly changed his approacg since he got put down by cunningham and adopted a safety first approach to wear people down.

[Rob3_142]

I had AJ ahead by 1 going into the 11th, but I did have 3 even rounds that I could not split, so margin of error can easily be +/- 3. Although AJ didn't land a lot in the opening 4, he was landing the odd body shot, and Wlad was landing the odd jab (thus resulting in a few tied rounds). After the 6th, Wlad won every round fairly comfortable, but from 9 onward, Joshua started to re-find his form. I don't think it would be fair to cry robbery if Joshua got the nod based on the 10 rounds boxed, although by 3 is a little wide from what I saw. That being said, Joshua got the stoppage so we don't need to chat too much about the judges cards.

Am I the only person that thought the referee perhaps stepped in a little too early? I know Joshua had Wlad on the floor twice early in the round, but Joshua wasn't landing clean when the referee stepped in. Wlad was riding the head shots well, and another few seconds, and Joshua may have run out of steam, giving Wlad the chance to regroup.

Finally, I really don't understand this obsession with Fury with the posters on this forum. Literally nobody was calling Fury rule of the roost before that Klitschko win. He won, extremely comfortably, and I would argue stylishly. However one performance is as good as one performance. What's he done to back it up? Nothing. Style's make fights. Fury outboxed Wlad, really keeping him off him, but neither fighter was really hurt, and neither fighter was ever close to a knockout. Joshua went after Wlad, which was high risk, and as a result there was 3 KD's and the fight was stopped inside the distance. Does that reflect at all on who's 'better' in Fury and Joshua? No, style's make fights. So what about Joshua's high risk boxing versus Fury's technical boxing? I think this is heavyweight boxing, and the bigger puncher will come through more often than now. Fury may well have avoided Klitschko for 12 rounds, but I'm not sure Fury would.

[Grilling Machine]

Am I the only person that thought the referee perhaps stepped in a little too early? I know Joshua had Wlad on the floor twice early in the round, but Joshua wasn't landing clean when the referee stepped in. Wlad was riding the head shots well, and another few seconds, and Joshua may have run out of steam, giving Wlad the chance to regroup.

Three of the four usual signs for a stoppage weren't there: glazed eyes, flush shots, or dropped hands. Wlad not returning punches was, but it's always exceptionally hard to tell rope-a-dope from genuine distress.

But in this case I would've stopped it, because the situation was giving Joshua more confidence by the second, and I sensed a real danger that its crescendo would be one or two massive punches on the money. It just seemed more likely to me that Klitschko would get nailed before Joshua punched himself out. Had AJ been more visibly tired, or shown a tendency to blow himself out in each round prior, I'd have let it run slightly longer.

[TheLeprechaun]

The stoppage was fine. Klitschko had been down twice in the round, pretty badly. Joshua was pouring it on and Klitschko was a beaten man at that point.

[Grilling Machine]

Yeah, there was a possibility of Joshua punching himself out, but Klitschko was trapped square on the ropes for too long in my eyes, following — as you say — two heavyish knockdowns. The odds of a comeback were too low versus the risk to his health. There's an invisible line between the two, and for me it crossed it as the ref stepped in. Great stoppage IMO.

[Rob3_142]

Fair play, I thought perhaps the referee could have let it go on another few seconds, just to see if Wlad could get out of there. Again, although he was pinned in the corner, and Joshua was teeing off, I thought he was riding the flurry well. Don't get me wrong, there was a lot of that round left and Wlad was a beaten man, I just felt like he deserved the benefit of the doubt.

Wlad has not criticised the decision, and has congratulated Joshua as the better man. At the time I just felt it was a fraction early, and hate when it's stopped and it's not obvious obvious.

[boxingknockout]

Am I the only person that thought the referee perhaps stepped in a little too early? I know Joshua had Wlad on the floor twice early in the round, but Joshua wasn't landing clean when the referee stepped in. Wlad was riding the head shots well, and another few seconds, and Joshua may have run out of steam, giving Wlad the chance to regroup.

Three of the four usual signs for a stoppage weren't there: glazed eyes, flush shots, or dropped hands. Wlad not returning punches was, but it's always exceptionally hard to tell rope-a-dope from genuine distress.

But in this case I would've stopped it, because the situation was giving Joshua more confidence by the second, and I sensed a real danger that its crescendo would be one or two massive punches on the money. It just seemed more likely to me that Klitschko would get nailed before Joshua punched himself out. Had AJ been more visibly tired, or shown a tendency to blow himself out in each round prior, I'd have let it run slightly longer.

Agreed an Josh didn't land any punches in that final barrage. However Wlad didn't complain so may just have had nothing more to offer.

[Counter-puncher]

Yeah, there was a possibility of Joshua punching himself out, but Klitschko was trapped square on the ropes for too long in my eyes, following — as you say — two heavyish knockdowns. The odds of a comeback were too low versus the risk to his health. There's an invisible line between the two, and for me it crossed it as the ref stepped in. Great stoppage IMO.

Spot-on IMO

[samwbr]

Am I the only person that thought the referee perhaps stepped in a little too early? I know Joshua had Wlad on the floor twice early in the round, but Joshua wasn't landing clean when the referee stepped in. Wlad was riding the head shots well, and another few seconds, and Joshua may have run out of steam, giving Wlad the chance to regroup.

Three of the four usual signs for a stoppage weren't there: glazed eyes, flush shots, or dropped hands. Wlad not returning punches was, but it's always exceptionally hard to tell rope-a-dope from genuine distress.

But in this case I would've stopped it, because the situation was giving Joshua more confidence by the second, and I sensed a real danger that its crescendo would be one or two massive punches on the money. It just seemed more likely to me that Klitschko would get nailed before Joshua punched himself out. Had AJ been more visibly tired, or shown a tendency to blow himself out in each round prior, I'd have let it run slightly longer.

He landed clean to the head twice in the last barrage, Wlad would have been badly hurt if it went any longer. Joshua is a great finisher.

[danconnollyeire]

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.

So if Usain Bolt fought Wlad and sprinting around the ring for 12 rounds not getting hit do I give him credit for being fast? haye did next to nothing. AJ got hurt because he was brave enough to stand toe to toe, you can't really give Haye credit for not engaging/going for broke. AJ did and look at his future from now...

[Cyclops]

In the early rounds when wlad was adopting a fury style of moving side to side joshua was still finding him and eventually got to him in the 5th.
I think wlad took the rounds he done what he does best keeping AJ at the end of his jab by keeping the arm long and walking him down.

I can see fury doing his dance routine but eventually he will eat joshuas leather and unlike when he fought wlad AJ will also pull the trigger to try and close the distance.

It would be an interesting fight, but fury won't trade he knows he won't handle the power he has massivly changed his approacg since he got put down by cunningham and adopted a safety first approach to wear people down.

Too much is made of the Cunningham KD in my opinion. Fury was banging his chest and telling Cunningham to hit him with his chin out, no defence whatsoever, and Cunningham obliged and hit him and put him over. Fury looked completely mortified and panicked a bit, hence the messiness of the rest of the fight. But it was a display of the most reckless "boxing" ever. Normally when fighters showboat they at least think about moving out of the way, but Fury wasn't doing that. He was basically doing a mayorga in there, which is fornicating stupid at heavyweight l, I don't care how "small" Cunningham was.

I don't think Fury changed his style because of that. Look at the Kevin Johnson fight. Fury had the ability to box and use his size before Cunningham, he just threw it out the window for that fight, which is still one of the most entertaining HW fights I've ever seen.

I think if we see Fury-AJ, Fury will come to fight. By the time he's fit enough, as long as Femi keeps winning, he'll be too good to employ the Wlad tactics against. It will be fantastic.

[dirk2686]

In the early rounds when wlad was adopting a fury style of moving side to side joshua was still finding him and eventually got to him in the 5th.
I think wlad took the rounds he done what he does best keeping AJ at the end of his jab by keeping the arm long and walking him down.

I can see fury doing his dance routine but eventually he will eat joshuas leather and unlike when he fought wlad AJ will also pull the trigger to try and close the distance.

It would be an interesting fight, but fury won't trade he knows he won't handle the power he has massivly changed his approacg since he got put down by cunningham and adopted a safety first approach to wear people down.

Too much is made of the Cunningham KD in my opinion. Fury was banging his chest and telling Cunningham to hit him with his chin out, no defence whatsoever, and Cunningham obliged and hit him and put him over.

Not quite true. Fury throws a right left which Cunningham takes on the gloves, who then comes back with a left (misses) and Fury is then out of range. Fury throws a sloppy left which Cunningham gets over the top of with a big right and down he goes.

[Cyclops]

In the early rounds when wlad was adopting a fury style of moving side to side joshua was still finding him and eventually got to him in the 5th.
I think wlad took the rounds he done what he does best keeping AJ at the end of his jab by keeping the arm long and walking him down.

I can see fury doing his dance routine but eventually he will eat joshuas leather and unlike when he fought wlad AJ will also pull the trigger to try and close the distance.

It would be an interesting fight, but fury won't trade he knows he won't handle the power he has massivly changed his approacg since he got put down by cunningham and adopted a safety first approach to wear people down.

Too much is made of the Cunningham KD in my opinion. Fury was banging his chest and telling Cunningham to hit him with his chin out, no defence whatsoever, and Cunningham obliged and hit him and put him over.

Not quite true. Fury throws a right left which Cunningham takes on the gloves, who then comes back with a left (misses) and Fury is then out of range. Fury throws a sloppy left which Cunningham gets over the top of with a big right and down he goes.

Hmm. Well, I still stand by the rest of what I said: that Fury had displayed boxing ability prior to the Cunningham fight but decided to not use any of it in his biggest fight to date, in America, against his most high profile opponent, and as a consequence everybody, including me, assumed he'd found his level and been exposed, and would get banged out when he stepped up. But he could fight a lot better than that, he was arseing around in there and assumed Cunningham couldn't hurt him, when of course he could.

[Oiky]

Too much is made of the Cunningham KD in my opinion. Fury was banging his chest and telling Cunningham to hit him with his chin out, no defence whatsoever, and Cunningham obliged and hit him and put him over.

Not quite true. Fury throws a right left which Cunningham takes on the gloves, who then comes back with a left (misses) and Fury is then out of range. Fury throws a sloppy left which Cunningham gets over the top of with a big right and down he goes.

Hmm. Well, I still stand by the rest of what I said: that Fury had displayed boxing ability prior to the Cunningham fight but decided to not use any of it in his biggest fight to date, in America, against his most high profile opponent, and as a consequence everybody, including me, assumed he'd found his level and been exposed, and would get banged out when he stepped up. But he could fight a lot better than that, he was arseing around in there and assumed Cunningham couldn't hurt him, when of course he could.

Too much is made of the KD 100%, it was a complete flash knockdown and Fury was up on his feet with no trouble whatsoever.

People are now talking about Joshua, who has terrible recovery skills in my opinion, takes him a few rounds to get himself back together, saying "He isn't chinny", "yeah he got knocked down but he ground out the win" but they will harp on about Fury getting KD'd like it is a foregone conclusion he has a bad chin

The punch out put and the punches landed wasn't the best in the Klitschko-Fury fight but Fury definitely took some punches off Wlad where if he was "chinny" it wouldl've had him in serious trouble.

Think Cunningham was about 15stone for the Fury fight, yeah it ain't heavyweight, yeah Cunninghams a cruiser but a 15stone man still isn't a small man to get hit by. Whether Fury enjoyed a weight advantage or not you can't put muscles on the chin, you can't train a chain and Fury was caught cold, if his chin was that gammy it would of been all she wrote for him but it wasn't. People have said Klitschko is quite chinny, but look at that uppercut he took from Joshua, it did lead to the stoppage yes but if he was that much of a chinny fighter the uppercut wouldl've starched him there and then, plus he was fatigued by that point, so again I think the Fury is chinny talk is a load of sh*t from people who are still waiting for him to lose and hoping that he does get caught cold because its a foregone conclusion for them he'd be out of it

[dirk2686]

I don't think Fury or Joshua are particularly chinny, but I certainly think Joshua has taken the harder shots.

Fury's knockdowns against Pajkic and Cunningham, (and no matter how you try you can't dress those up as being anywhere near a full-blooded Wlad) suggested more that he can get sloppy. I disagree the Cunningham one was a flash knockdown, (he was definitely hurt, if only briefly), but either way they're not good signs.

[Cyclops]

I don't think Fury or Joshua are particularly chinny, but I certainly think Joshua has taken the harder shots.

Fury's knockdowns against Pajkic and Cunningham, (and no matter how you try you can't dress those up as being anywhere near a full-blooded Wlad) suggested more that he can get sloppy. I disagree the Cunningham one was a flash knockdown, (he was definitely hurt, if only briefly), but either way they're not good signs.

Maybe I'll have to watch it again but I'm pretty sure Fury is hurt against Cunningham and loses the round after too, doesn't he? He goes over pretty hard...

[Horse]

He goes over pretty hard...

What does that mean?

[Cyclops]

He goes over pretty hard...

What does that mean?

It's a hard knock down

[samwbr]

Not quite true. Fury throws a right left which Cunningham takes on the gloves, who then comes back with a left (misses) and Fury is then out of range. Fury throws a sloppy left which Cunningham gets over the top of with a big right and down he goes.

Hmm. Well, I still stand by the rest of what I said: that Fury had displayed boxing ability prior to the Cunningham fight but decided to not use any of it in his biggest fight to date, in America, against his most high profile opponent, and as a consequence everybody, including me, assumed he'd found his level and been exposed, and would get banged out when he stepped up. But he could fight a lot better than that, he was arseing around in there and assumed Cunningham couldn't hurt him, when of course he could.

Too much is made of the KD 100%, it was a complete flash knockdown and Fury was up on his feet with no trouble whatsoever.

People are now talking about Joshua, who has terrible recovery skills in my opinion, takes him a few rounds to get himself back together, saying "He isn't chinny", "yeah he got knocked down but he ground out the win" but they will harp on about Fury getting KD'd like it is a foregone conclusion he has a bad chin

The punch out put and the punches landed wasn't the best in the Klitschko-Fury fight but Fury definitely took some punches off Wlad where if he was "chinny" it wouldl've had him in serious trouble.

Think Cunningham was about 15stone for the Fury fight, yeah it ain't heavyweight, yeah Cunninghams a cruiser but a 15stone man still isn't a small man to get hit by. Whether Fury enjoyed a weight advantage or not you can't put muscles on the chin, you can't train a chain and Fury was caught cold, if his chin was that gammy it would of been all she wrote for him but it wasn't. People have said Klitschko is quite chinny, but look at that uppercut he took from Joshua, it did lead to the stoppage yes but if he was that much of a chinny fighter the uppercut wouldl've starched him there and then, plus he was fatigued by that point, so again I think the Fury is chinny talk is a load of sh*t from people who are still waiting for him to lose and hoping that he does get caught cold because its a foregone conclusion for them he'd be out of it

You could say the same about your claim that Joshua has poor powers of recovery no?

[Horse]

It's a hard knock down

Why? Because he hit the deck fast?

Going down slowly would be more worrying.

He was fine.

[Cyclops]

It's a hard knock down

Why? Because he hit the deck fast?

Going down slowly would be more worrying.

He was fine.

fornicate me Horse, about 3 posts ago I was saying too much is made of that KD because it hoodwinked people into believing Fury was a vulnerable fighter. I don't think he is. You're such a touchy fornicating fanboy that you have to come running in to defend your hero against somebody not even really having a go. What's up with you? It was a proper knock down, not a flash KD or a slip. His shorts practically fell down! If he was chinny he would have gone over more than that in his career, wouldn't he? Go and pick an argument somewhere else.

[Horse]

eff me Horse, about 3 posts ago I was saying too much is made of that KD because it hoodwinked people into believing Fury was a vulnerable fighter. I don't think he is. You're such a touchy effing fanboy that you have to come running in to defend your hero against somebody not even really having a go. What's up with you? It was a proper knock down, not a flash KD or a slip. His shorts practically fell down! If he was chinny he would have gone over more than that in his career, wouldn't he? Go and pick an argument somewhere else.

I'm sick of that "hard knockdown" rubbish.

Everyone repeats it over and over, but it is meaningless.

I don't care about whatever point you were trying to make.

Quit with the "hard knockdown" propaganda.

[Stuarty]

eff me Horse, about 3 posts ago I was saying too much is made of that KD because it hoodwinked people into believing Fury was a vulnerable fighter. I don't think he is. You're such a touchy effing fanboy that you have to come running in to defend your hero against somebody not even really having a go. What's up with you? It was a proper knock down, not a flash KD or a slip. His shorts practically fell down! If he was chinny he would have gone over more than that in his career, wouldn't he? Go and pick an argument somewhere else.

I'm sick of that "hard knockdown" rubbish.

Everyone repeats it over and over, but it is meaningless.

I don't care about whatever point you were trying to make.

Quit with the "hard knockdown" propaganda.

Heavy knockdown

[Oiky]

Hmm. Well, I still stand by the rest of what I said: that Fury had displayed boxing ability prior to the Cunningham fight but decided to not use any of it in his biggest fight to date, in America, against his most high profile opponent, and as a consequence everybody, including me, assumed he'd found his level and been exposed, and would get banged out when he stepped up. But he could fight a lot better than that, he was arseing around in there and assumed Cunningham couldn't hurt him, when of course he could.

Too much is made of the KD 100%, it was a complete flash knockdown and Fury was up on his feet with no trouble whatsoever.

People are now talking about Joshua, who has terrible recovery skills in my opinion, takes him a few rounds to get himself back together, saying "He isn't chinny", "yeah he got knocked down but he ground out the win" but they will harp on about Fury getting KD'd like it is a foregone conclusion he has a bad chin

The punch out put and the punches landed wasn't the best in the Klitschko-Fury fight but Fury definitely took some punches off Wlad where if he was "chinny" it wouldl've had him in serious trouble.

Think Cunningham was about 15stone for the Fury fight, yeah it ain't heavyweight, yeah Cunninghams a cruiser but a 15stone man still isn't a small man to get hit by. Whether Fury enjoyed a weight advantage or not you can't put muscles on the chin, you can't train a chain and Fury was caught cold, if his chin was that gammy it would of been all she wrote for him but it wasn't. People have said Klitschko is quite chinny, but look at that uppercut he took from Joshua, it did lead to the stoppage yes but if he was that much of a chinny fighter the uppercut wouldl've starched him there and then, plus he was fatigued by that point, so again I think the Fury is chinny talk is a load of sh*t from people who are still waiting for him to lose and hoping that he does get caught cold because its a foregone conclusion for them he'd be out of it

You could say the same about your claim that Joshua has poor powers of recovery no?

Not really

Because Fury got up and was okay. What signs did he show that in future fights he could be vulnerable after a knockdown if somebody jumped all over him?

Joshua however got knocked down and showed signs that if somebody can stick on him then he will more than likely be stopped on his feet or KOed. He was puffing heavily, his legs were weak, he even put his head down and walked almost into Klitschko's stomach for no reason whatsoever at one point, but despite all this and despite the great shape Klitschko was in he just didn't get the job done

Yes who is there at the moment to finish the job on Joshua many ask, and quite righty so, I can't answer that, but the point is to me Joshua showed vulnerabitlies that Tyson has never shown

Joshua will get better from here many are saying - Good and fair point - But alot of the vulnerabilites he shown can't be improved upon imo

Joshua may well improve the fact that he rarely moves his head, he comes forward in straight lines making him susceptible to big shots, he may well improve his lateral movement, but for me his recovery and falling to sh*t when he gets his is something he can't improve imo and it will cost him, yeah people will say "doesn't something cost all fighters in the end" but I think even in a weak HW div someone who stuck on Joshua if they caught him would win.

His stamina is bad as well, he needs to work on that, Wlad had clearly trained and conditioned himself for a 12round boxing match which he done as best as he can do at the age of 41, Joshua trained for God knows what? He didn't do much of anything and then when he did come out like a bull in a china shop he was blowing like a steam train and then went back to not doing much of anything until he regained himself and then his next burst he was f*cked again. "Fat Fury" has shown when he comes to fight he can do 12rnds without gassing, Fury can be low output at times but when he does put a few shots together he doesn't blow like a smoker afterwards