March 28, 2024

AJ ASCENDS TO THE THRONE BY BEATING KLITSCHKO

90,000 fans packed into Wembley stadium and created a ruckus atmosphere for what turned out to be one of the best heavyweight fights to happen in Britain in a long time, Klitschko showed he meant business by coming out and taking the centre of the ring in a cagey opening round, Joshua was forced into fighting off the back foot but he did have some early success with catching Klitschko a few times. No fighter was willing to take a gamble in the opening round so there was no clear winner.

Joshua comes more into the fight as he starts to find his range but Klitschko appears to be happy enough to sit back jab and look for the right hand counter punch, while at the same time Klitschko is constantly on his toes and these earlier rounds appear to be a battle of the Jab as well as each fighter swapping big right hands but their chins are holding up, very hard to call the first four rounds and you could see a case for each fighter winning the rounds.

The fight comes alive in the 5th round as Joshua explodes out of the corner at the bell letting his hands go, Klitschko goes on the back foot but he is caught with a barrage of punches which eventually sends him to the canvas. Klitschko got up and walked to the neutral corner so he didn’t appear to be badly hurt but there appeared to be a cut over his left eye. Joshua decided against running in to finish Klitschko off and this helped him as he composed himself then he started to unleash his own big hands as Joshua appeared to have punched himself out.

Joshua is caught with a left hook which appeared to stun him, now with Joshua tiring Klitschko is coming on strong at the end of the 5th round, Joshua is caught with left hooks and uppercuts while he labours on the ropes, the bell goes for the end of the 5th and Joshua appeared exhausted and is breathing heavy on the way back to his corner. What a great round of Boxing with both fighters showing their worth and really this fight at this stage could swing either way.

Into the 6th Round and Joshua still looks tired and Klitschko is lunging looking for a big right hand hoping to land and end the fight, as the two fighters come together awkwardly it appears as if Joshua spits out his gum shield to get a breather, when the fight restarts there is some posturing and Klitschko landed a 1-2 with a left jab and big overhand right which surprises Joshua and sends him to the canvas for the first time in his pro career, he rises to his feet gingerly and when the ref asks him to walk forward he does slowly with some big deep breaths. Joshua has to hold and survive the round but Klitschko didn’t put him under a lot of pressure considering he had knocked him down.

The next couple of rounds Joshua appears to be in survival mode and taking a breather but Klitschko doesn’t capitalise on the situation, Joshua for the first time appeared to be talking to Klitschko maybe trying to unsettle him. Into the 9th round Joshua is gaining more later round experience as he hasn’t been past the 7th Round in all of his previous fights but the two rounds where he took a breather has appeared to have helped him as it looks like he has got his second wind.

Joshua ups the pace as it appears that Klitschko is starting to tire in the tenth round, Klitscho was looking to take a breather by clinching a lot and trying to stop AJ’s momentum. AJ comes out quick in the 11th round and catches Klitschko with a solid right straight which rocks his head back. Joshua stalks Klitschko around the ring as he is now the fresher looking of the two fighters. As the two men clinch Joshua catches Klitschko with a heavy left hook and then when they are both letting their hands go Joshua catches him with a huge uppercut that stuns him and goes in for the kill with a right uppercut left hook combination that sends Klitschko to the canvas for the second time in the fight.

Klitschko is visibly shaken and struggles to get back to his feet, AJ can now smell blood as he follows up with a straight right hand which lands right on the button of Klitschko’s chin sending the fighter back into the ropes, Joshua pounces on him unleash left and right shots and Klitschko goes down again for the 3rd time in the fight, as he rises he looks like he knows he will need to dig deep to get through this round but AJ comes in again and unleashing his hands and catching Klitschko but this time the ref jumps in to stop the fight and the crowd goes wild as they have just witnessed an epic fight.

What now for Wladimir Klitschko? personally I thought he fought excellently and he showed the rest of the division even at forty one he is a force within the heavyweight division. He has plenty still to offer and I don’t think it is crazy to assume he will fight for a title again in the future as he showed more than enough in this fight that he is def still one of the most talented fighters out there.

AJ will have learnt a lot from this fight and there is still questions like was he too heavy by carrying too much muscle, he took some punches but he was dropped which will give other big punching heavyweights more confidence if they were to come up against him and is there stamina issues as he did appear to punch himself out in the 5th round but he showed the heart of a lion to come back into the fight, get his second wind and dig deep to get the victory. AJ will now hopefully go on and fight for a third recognised belt and emulate the great Lennox Lewis.

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