Klitschko: I take the challenge against Joshua and I will win

Boxingnews24.com

By Scott Gilfoid: Wladimir Klitschko (64-3, 53 KOs) understands the risk that he’s taking in facing IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (18-0, 18 KOs) on April 29 next month, but he still believes he’s got the talent to win the fight. Wladimir says he know what will happen if he doesn’t take the fight with the 27-year-old Joshua, and that’s why he’s chosen to take the fight. He also believes he can win. Just what Wladimir has seen of the heavily muscular Joshua that makes him think he can beat him is what I would like to know.

It’s not that Joshua is unbeatable, because we’ve seen him beaten by Mihai Nistor in 2011, and arguably beaten 3 times in the 2012 London Olympics by Roberto Cammarelle, Ivan Dychko and Erislandy Savon. But those fighters were all capable of taking shots to the head, and they weren’t afraid to throw punches. Wladimir has never taken a great shot even in his prime years.

I don’t expect Wladimir’s punch resistance to have improved at all. But what’s equally important is Wladimir’s ability to throw meaningful power punches. We haven’t seen that from him in his last 2 fights. He stopped throwing power shots almost entirely. I’m not sure if he’s lost his nerve, or his reflexes have eroded to the point where he can’t pull the trigger when he sees an opponent. Believe me, Joshua has plenty of openings to be hit if Wladimir has the nerve and the reflexes to throw his shots.

“I know the consequences if I don’t take up this challenge. I take it up and I will win. #obsessed #Joshua-Klitschko,” said Klitschko on his Twitter.

Yeah, Wladimir would absolutely fail if he doesn’t take the risk of fighting Joshua, because he would have the opportunity of maybe pulling off a miracle upset. But that doesn’t ignore the fact that Wladimir is a HUGE underdog in this fight. Wladimir would be better off if he had targeted WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker to try and win his title. The only negative about Wladimir facing Parker is that he wouldn’t have a good excuse for losing to him that he would against Joshua. Getting beaten by Joshua, Wladimir can say he was beaten by one of the best heavyweights in the division.

If Wladimir loses to Parker, he won’t be able to make the same argument, because he’s not viewed as being the best or even the second best fighter in the heavyweight division. Overall, Deontay Wilder appears to be the best in the division. For whatever reason, Wladimir has targeted Joshua instead. He’s capable of filling a large stadium, and that might be the lure for Wladimir. A lot of PPV money in that fight. I don’t know that Wladimir vs. Wilder would be PPV worthy if it took place in the U.S, because Wladimir never really became popular over there.

“He’s a great champion and I personally do not see too many heavyweights beating him, he’s very strong,” said recent Joshua knockout victim Eric Molina to skysports.com. “One thing that Joshua has shown is, he’s getting bigger, better, faster, stronger, every fight.”

I don’t think Joshua isn’t getting bigger, faster or stronger with every fight like Molina says. Joshua is the same size as fight after fight nowadays. He’s stopped gaining weight now that he’s around 250. However, if Joshua keeps putting on weight, he could start resembling another Primo Canera. Once you put on all that useless bodybuilding muscle, it’s going to be hard to lose it without losing strength. Joshua’s hand speed isn’t getting better.

If you look at Joshua now and compare him to 2009, he’s clearly slower than he used to be. He looks slower than he was in 2012. People don’t age backwards in life, I hate to say. Joshua isn’t getting younger with each year, and he DEFINITELY is not getting faster. He’s not the next Benjamin Button. Molina has a lot of nice things to say about Joshua. I wonder if he’s hoping to get another title shot against him in the future. I mean, Molina didn’t help himself on that front by not throwing punches. If you want a rematch, you’ve got to throw punches. Come on. Molina did zero. He should have gone after Joshua from the opening bell and tried to KO him with every punch. Instead of doing that, Molina came out looking scared, and threw almost no punches he was quietly knocked out in round 3. It was one of Joshua’s easier wins of his career due to Molina not throwing punches.

“I don’t want to disrespect Klitschko, but the torch is going to be passed that night,” said Molina. “If it hasn’t been already, I think it’s going to officially get passed.”

What torch is Molina talking about? Wladimir already passed the torch to Tyson Fury in losing to him in 2015. Fury then dropped the torch and disappeared from boxing. There’s not going to be any passing of the torch from Wladimir to Joshua, because it’s already been passed. Wladimir resembles a fighter coming back from retirement rather than someone at the top of the sport fighting for the right to pick the No.1 guy in the heavyweight division.