BoxRec

When April comes around it will be a long time since WK has laced up his gloves roughly 16 months what do you make of this fight and will it be competitive ?

Inactivity his age and his reluctance to throw more punches we have seen in the last few fights

craigjenkins05 wrote:Inactivity his age and his reluctance to throw more punches we have seen in the last few fights

Indeed pal he was averaging like 10-12 punches against Fury, to his credit Tyson is one awkward mother trucker !

To me, it's the perfect storm.

Powerful young 'champion' defending his title against the ageing former champion whose current skillset is a bit shrouded in mystery.

Wladimir looked old during his last two fights & by time he fights, he would have been out for 18 months.

Joshua has only had one difficult opponent & that was Whyte a year ago!

If Wladimir is anywhere near what he was, I'd tip him, but I could be doing Joshua a disservice because he might well be something special.

This will be a fascinating fight for a number of reasons & I can't truly call it right now.

Inactivity and age. I think it will start cagy but Joshua will seize his chance when it comes and bludgeon Wlad mid-rounds

Syntax Error wrote:To me, it's the perfect storm.

Powerful young 'champion' defending his title against the ageing former champion whose current skillset is a bit shrouded in mystery.

Wladimir looked old during his last two fights & by time he fights, he would have been out for 18 months.

Joshua has only had one difficult opponent & that was Whyte a year ago!

If Wladimir is anywhere near what he was, I'd tip him, but I could be doing Joshua a disservice because he might well be something special.

This will be a fascinating fight for a number of reasons & I can't truly call it right now.

Same pal I think the new boxing fans are blindly favouring AJ and have forgotten how dangerous WK is.

BUT this damn inactivity will be Wlads down fall I personally think this will be Wlads last fight

Counter-puncher wrote:Inactivity and age. I think it will start cagy but Joshua will seize his chance when it comes and bludgeon Wlad mid-rounds

Hmm thats a good shout rounds 5-8 stoppage for AJ

I think Wlad will have had too long a break to be a threat to Joshua and wouldn't be surprised if he pulled out nearer the time with an injury.

It'll be very tentative in the early going with both guys throwing cautious jabs out, and being very careful not to make any mistakes. When something gets through that shakes Wlad I figure Joshua will pounce on him and finish him.

Long breaks tend to affect experienced and dedicated fighters like Wlad or Hopkins less than others, it often does them some good.

If moderate puncher Whyte can have Joshua in a world of trouble, then what's P4P puncher Wlad going to do to him?

Will Joshua be able to stand up to Wladimir's jab? Wladimir might be reluctant to throw a lot of power shots, but will he need to?

Joshua best develop decent feints in short order.

Quite possibly. All the points covered above really.

Joshua just might have given a 'prime' Wlad all he could handle though. Wlad has never been unbeatable, remember, Brewster and Sanders gobbled him up.

It's an interesting fight for sure but it's a shame Wlad isn't 2/3 years younger and Joshua 2 more fights in to his career ( against testing opposition obviously )

He would have been in training for the Fury fights, plus he always keeps himself in brilliant shape anyway, so you'd think his fitness will be fine. But it certainly won't have helped him, and spending 18 months out after looking so gun-shy last time out is probably the worst thing for him.

Put it like this. Nobody would ever say an 18 month lay off after a poor loss before fighting again at a very high level is a good thing.

It's not going to help him, but since Joshua has zero experience against top fighters it doesn't really give Joshua an edge.

BitPlayer wrote:It's not going to help him, but since Joshua has zero experience against top fighters it doesn't really give Joshua an edge.

I don't get your thinking.

If Joshua could pick, do you think he'd choose an 18 month inactive Wlad or a Wlad who had two or three fights in that period gearing up to the one at Wembley?

Will useless, old Klitschko even be considered Joshua's best win?

What a waste of Joshua's time.

Joshua is so muscley and powerful he'll beat everyone.

Joshua will smash his napper off within 3 rounds. Much rather he fight Haye or Wilder.

A fully fit Whyte in a rematch would be interesting as well. Wlad has been past it for a while now and this is just a ploy to cash out millions for all concerned. Hearn needs to protect the investment (dont forget he laid our several millions for Martin to give up his belt)

Yes, being 41 and inactive for 17 months (27; 4 months for AJ) will make a big difference

Tanzio wrote:Joshua best develop decent feints in short order.

Indeed

and a bit of head movement

Horse wrote:Will useless, old Klitschko even be considered Joshua's best win?

What a waste of Joshua's time.

Joshua is so muscley and powerful he'll beat everyone.

yep ,you're probably right .

Horse wrote:Will useless, old Klitschko even be considered Joshua's best win?

What a waste of Joshua's time.

Joshua is so muscley and powerful he'll beat everyone.

forcefraser wrote:Joshua will smash his napper off within 3 rounds. Much rather he fight Haye or Wilder.

A fully fit Whyte in a rematch would be interesting as well. Wlad has been past it for a while now and this is just a ploy to cash out millions for all concerned. Hearn needs to protect the investment (dont forget he laid our several millions for Martin to give up his belt)

A fully fit Dillian Whyte is a more interesting opponent than Wladimr Klitschko?!

Horse wrote:Will useless, old Klitschko even be considered Joshua's best win?

What a waste of Joshua's time.

Joshua is so muscley and powerful he'll beat everyone.

It looked like Wlad was there to serenade Joshua after the fight. Eddie Hearn looks like he is swooning in the background too :