BoxRec

caldo2025 wrote:

Badhusker wrote:Wlad was definitely winning, and would have won if the fight was not stopped. Credit to AJ for his big shots late, but he has a lot of work to do in order to be the best. Wlad was the better boxer by far over-all, just too past it to compete with the young lion.

Not on the cards. Wlad was up on only one of the cards at the stoppage. One judge had WK by 2 points. One judge had AJ up by 2 points. The last judge had AJ up by 3 points. Not sure how they could have gotten AJ up by 3 points but that's what was announced after the fight anyway.

Those cards are a disgrace, but typical. I'm glad it was stopped (and rightly fully so). It's better for boxing that way.

Ricky_ wrote:

TheDarkDestroyer wrote:

Ricky_ wrote:

Indeed Sanders was a big puncher but imo Sanders landed heavier shots on Vitali and never really made a dent. Klitchko looked liked he needed an ambulance in his stoppage defeats, I think his chin has always been suspect.

Sanders definitely hurt Vitali. He ran backwards across the ring to get away from him at one point, I think in the second.

Yeah i remeber the exact shot. Stunned him for a second though, that was about it. Vitali had an absolute granite chin though so maybe it's an unfair comparison.

Yeah true, but he did have a cracking straight left.

lazboy wrote:

caldo2025 wrote:

Badhusker wrote:Wlad was definitely winning, and would have won if the fight was not stopped. Credit to AJ for his big shots late, but he has a lot of work to do in order to be the best. Wlad was the better boxer by far over-all, just too past it to compete with the young lion.

Not on the cards. Wlad was up on only one of the cards at the stoppage. One judge had WK by 2 points. One judge had AJ up by 2 points. The last judge had AJ up by 3 points. Not sure how they could have gotten AJ up by 3 points but that's what was announced after the fight anyway.

Those cards are a disgrace, but typical. I'm glad it was stopped (and rightly fully so). It's better for boxing that way.

I couldn't agree more. No way, you could possibly have AJ up by 3 after 10 rounds. I always thought that British judges were solid and fighters typically get a good shake over there but after that, i'd be weary traveling there to fight now.

Joshua was winning the fight when he closed it out... He showed defensive vulnerabilities that he hadn't shown before that a super experienced boxer was able to scope out... Wladimir wasn't able to get many jabs on AJ and vice versa... Wlad couldn't get his devastating left hooks on Josh, but he did get hooks off right hands when Joshua was hurt... Joshua was open for rights because AJ has a tendency to push aggressively in with his jab instead of pinking with it like Triple-G does when he attacks.. Joshua was the more emotionally composed of the 2, which surprised me..

I was amazed AJ talked to Klitschko when he was hurt... "Be careful here.. Be careful here.. Don't punch yourself out.. You're winging 'em bud.. You're winging 'em" or something similar to that.. Mind games from the younger fighter.. AJ gave up 3 or 4 rounds and was able to clear his head out - because he was really hurt.. Then he came back with a vengeance to get Wladimir KTFO.. There was no talking or mind games from Wlad to buy time to recover.. Joshua wouldn't be listening anyway.. He takes his chances to when the odds move into his favor -- that is when you have the other guy badly hurt, you finish him off with a cold fury.. You don't listen to his chatter.

Joshua is a little more clever than I thought...when he was hurt bad he had his radar up on super alert.. He was defending well and talking to Klitschko, distracting him just a fraction.. He got through a couple very rough rounds where he was in imminent danger of being taken out.. It's like he scoped out WK's psychological weaknesses better than vice versa.. It was Klitschko who bragged "I can totally read every punch Joshua throws" but he was seeing an updated version of Joshua he hadn't counted on.

Speaking about left hooks, Wlad waited for too long after throwing that right hand which hurt Joshua. If he immediately followed with a left hook, the fight would be over. He did follow, but Joshua was already falling down, so it didn't land well.

At times Joshua had a problem with Klitschko's jab, Wladimir managed the distance well while Anthony looked uncomfortable.
Klitschko kept the jab poised as an opening finder, sometimes as he has done in the past he has used it to slap down incoming prodding shots.
I didn't expect Wladimir to be on the front foot most of the time ... he was taking the fight to Anthony Joshua.
Joshua took big shots was shook but level headed himself enough to get it back together, there was a storm and he made his way through it.

Kalan wrote:Joshua was winning the fight when he closed it out... He showed defensive vulnerabilities that he hadn't shown before that a super experienced boxer was able to scope out... Wladimir wasn't able to get many jabs on AJ and vice versa... Wlad couldn't get his devastating left hooks on Josh, but he did get hooks off right hands when Joshua was hurt... Joshua was open for rights because AJ has a tendency to push aggressively in with his jab instead of pinking with it like Triple-G does when he attacks.. Joshua was the more emotionally composed of the 2, which surprised me..

I was amazed AJ talked to Klitschko when he was hurt... "Be careful here.. Be careful here.. Don't punch yourself out.. You're winging 'em bud.. You're winging 'em" or something similar to that.. Mind games from the younger fighter.. AJ gave up 3 or 4 rounds and was able to clear his head out - because he was really hurt.. Then he came back with a vengeance to get Wladimir KTFO.. There was no talking or mind games from Wlad to buy time to recover.. Joshua wouldn't be listening anyway.. He takes his chances to when the odds move into his favor -- that is when you have the other guy badly hurt, you finish him off with a cold fury.. You don't listen to his chatter.

Joshua is a little more clever than I thought...when he was hurt bad he had his radar up on super alert.. He was defending well and talking to Klitschko, distracting him just a fraction.. He got through a couple very rough rounds where he was in imminent danger of being taken out.. It's like he scoped out WK's psychological weaknesses better than vice versa.. It was Klitschko who bragged "I can totally read every punch Joshua throws" but he was seeing an updated version of Joshua he hadn't counted on.

Thats how i saw it too

Really ?

What I saw was an AJ who wanted to KO Wlad in round 5 and had a lack of oxidine in his body because of his power round round 5 for whole round 6 and even a big part of round 7 and stayed in doubt till round 9 at least because of that. After he realised everything was oke again, he started fighting again.
AJ must be aware of the fact that his lungs can't keep up with his body if he uses full power.

I didn't like the stoppage. AJ wasn't even landing with those punches. But yeah, Wlad was done. Even if he survived the 11th, he was going down again in the 12th.

^ That's not the way it felt at the time.
No one wanted to punish Wladimir.

Remember the gloves are off with Josh and Wlad ?
Joshua said this fight is respect respect fight fight ... absolutely classy from all participants.
Not there to humiliate Wladimir Klitschko for second.

Joshua's eyes are marked up underneath at the post fight conference.
Under the left especially.

caldo2025 wrote:

lazboy wrote:

caldo2025 wrote:
Not on the cards. Wlad was up on only one of the cards at the stoppage. One judge had WK by 2 points. One judge had AJ up by 2 points. The last judge had AJ up by 3 points. Not sure how they could have gotten AJ up by 3 points but that's what was announced after the fight anyway.

Those cards are a disgrace, but typical. I'm glad it was stopped (and rightly fully so). It's better for boxing that way.

I couldn't agree more. No way, you could possibly have AJ up by 3 after 10 rounds. I always thought that British judges were solid and fighters typically get a good shake over there but after that, i'd be weary traveling there to fight now.

Correct me if I'm wrong but-
None of the judges were British.

Gimp Mask wrote:I didn't like the stoppage. AJ wasn't even landing with those punches. But yeah, Wlad was done. Even if he survived the 11th, he was going down again in the 12th.

The first knockdown in the 11th had Wlad's eyes rolling in the back of his head. Watch the replay, the second knockdown was even harder. I thought the ref was fair in letting him keep on fighting until AJ came on strong and with over a minute to go it was a decent call to stop it. I would hate it if Wlad ended up seriously hurt, he is too fine a champ to end up a vegetable.

The referee did a good job... He gave Wladimir every chance to come back, but he was being overpowered and taken out by a younger and stronger man.

I agree that this was one of the great heavy weight fights of all time. What was very interesting for me is that at the end of the 5th round, after surviving a hard knockdown, although being behind by 4 points on my card Wlad appeared to have seized control. Also, it is very impressive how AJ survived (especially) the sixth, after that near perfect right hand, as well as the seventh and eighth. By the 9th AJ reasserted himself and won that round and the tenth closely.

What was most amazing was that Wlad managed to get up after nearly being decapitated by that uppercut, and then once more before the fight being stopped. I sincerely considered the possibility that AJ might gas again and Wlad make another miraculous comeback and floor him in the twelfth just before the ref (properly) stopped it.

I have so much gratitude for the performances by both of these fine warriors and gentlemen. There was no quit in that ring last night.

KiwiRider wrote:

caldo2025 wrote:

lazboy wrote:
Those cards are a disgrace, but typical. I'm glad it was stopped (and rightly fully so). It's better for boxing that way.

I couldn't agree more. No way, you could possibly have AJ up by 3 after 10 rounds. I always thought that British judges were solid and fighters typically get a good shake over there but after that, i'd be weary traveling there to fight now.

Correct me if I'm wrong but-
None of the judges were British.

Excellent point. I can only confirm one of the 3 were not British but could be all of them.

caldo2025 wrote:

KiwiRider wrote:

caldo2025 wrote:
I couldn't agree more. No way, you could possibly have AJ up by 3 after 10 rounds. I always thought that British judges were solid and fighters typically get a good shake over there but after that, i'd be weary traveling there to fight now.

Correct me if I'm wrong but-
None of the judges were British.

Excellent point. I can only confirm one of the 3 were not British but could be all of them.

It frustrates me that people prefer to make impulsive premature derogatory claims that are simply untrue, rather than perform any fact checking.

To repeat what has already been said, none of the judges were British. Two of them were from America, whilst the third one was from Peurto Rico.

None of the officials, such as the referee or the judges, were British. If there was bias, it would have been inevitably caused by the 90,000 drunken crowd that roared with excitement whenever Anthony Joshua decided to move his arms, regardless as to whether his punches landed or not.

As a human being that is trying to evaluate a fight objectively, it must be really difficult to not be influenced by the noise emited by British fight fans, as per the scoring of the GGG-Brook fight.

You have to respect Wlad out of the ring and yesterday I respected him in and out of the ring.

Even though technically he was still in the ring when he made those classy comments.

Joshua may even get better and he's pretty good the way he is. He has a decent, perhaps not great chin, but Anthony has excellent recoupitory powers.

Badhusker wrote:Wlad was definitely winning, and would have won if the fight was not stopped. Credit to AJ for his big shots late, but he has a lot of work to do in order to be the best. Wlad was the better boxer by far over-all, just too past it to compete with the young lion.

Except it'd have been a 10-7 round without the stoppage. I had Wlad a round or two ahead but a 10-7 would have swung it. The judges who had Joshua ahead were wrong though.

Ricky_ wrote:

Baby Face Finster wrote:

Ricky_ wrote:Really outstanding fight.

Klitchko i thought answered some questions on his chin. He kept getting up and tbh i think if the ref let it continue he would have heard the final bell. You wonder where he got that chin from when you consider how easily Sanders and Brewster got him out of there.

As for Joshua, his chin is ok. Recovered very well. His tank was literally empty by the end of the 5th and when the big shot landed in the 6th i was counting my winnings. Against a younger heavyweight though he would have out of there, if a fighter like Wilder had Joshua in that kind of state he would have him out of there within a couple of swings.

Klitchko should retire, and i think Joshua gets found out eventually. Monster punchers always hit a brick wall, was very nearly tonight.

Sanders was a heavy puncher and kept knocking him down but Wlad kept getting up, Brewster on the other hand beat a Wlad who punched himself out. The Sanders fight was easy for Sanders but Brewster had to endure a lot of pain in his fight before Wlad gassed out. Neither one was really a slight on his chin imo.

Indeed Sanders was a big puncher but imo Sanders landed heavier shots on Vitali and never really made a dent. Klitchko looked liked he needed an ambulance in his stoppage defeats, I think his chin has always been suspect.

Wlad has a decent but not spectacular chin. Vitali had an absolute monster chin. That uppercut he took from Lewis was outrageous.

caldo2025 wrote:

KiwiRider wrote:

caldo2025 wrote:
I couldn't agree more. No way, you could possibly have AJ up by 3 after 10 rounds. I always thought that British judges were solid and fighters typically get a good shake over there but after that, i'd be weary traveling there to fight now.

Correct me if I'm wrong but-
None of the judges were British.

Excellent point. I can only confirm one of the 3 were not British but could be all of them.

Two from US and one from Puerto Rico.
Referee - from US
No UK

KiwiRider wrote:

Gimp Mask wrote:I didn't like the stoppage. AJ wasn't even landing with those punches. But yeah, Wlad was done. Even if he survived the 11th, he was going down again in the 12th.

The first knockdown in the 11th had Wlad's eyes rolling in the back of his head. Watch the replay, the second knockdown was even harder. I thought the ref was fair in letting him keep on fighting until AJ came on strong and with over a minute to go it was a decent call to stop it. I would hate it if Wlad ended up seriously hurt, he is too fine a champ to end up a vegetable.

100% said so on a diff thread, n some guy arguing with me.

Terrific fight. And I give AJ a lot of credit here. Wlad was 41, but he hasn't taken a lot of punishment in his career and he is always in great shape. I thought he looked as good as I have seen him look. No way can you be 100 percent of what you were when you are 41, but given his increased experience at 40 plus, I think he was pretty damn close to his best. A great win.

And I give major credit to AJ for taking this fight, this will make him a better fighter in the long run. He was a stationary target early and once wlad found the range he started teeing off. But, AJ weathered it and then had the wherewithal to start moving his head some and thinking a little more about defending himself, not every fighter can make that adjustment in the heat of the moment. That impressed me.

In the end, he is fast and he has power. He can be hit and he can be hurt. But, he has heart and he can keep his head in there. This guy is going to be fun to watch.