Joshua says it’s “perfect time” to fight Klitschko

BoxingNews24.com

By Scott Gilfoid: IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua appears to be in agreement with David Haye about this being the “perfect time” to fight the 41-year-old Wladimir Klitschko in their fight on April 29. Haye recently said that it was the “perfect time” for Joshua to be getting the fight against the fading Klitschko, as he hasn’t fought in quite a while, and with him looking less than good in his loss to Tyson Fury over a year ago.

Poor Joshua, won’t get credit if he beats Wladimir except with the casual boxing fans, many of who have no idea that the Ukrainian is older, and no longer the fighter he was 15 years ago. The casual fans will give Joshua credit for beating Klitschko, because they won’t know much about how the former heavyweight champion’s boxing skills have deteriorated recently in the last two years.

Joshua said to skysports.com about how he’s getting Wladimir at the “perfect time” on April 29:

“If I fought Klitschko on December 10, it would have been the perfect time, now April 29 is the perfect time, and if it wouldn’t have happened then, then later on will be the perfect time,” said Joshua.

I’m not sure if the 27-year-old Joshua entirely understands where Haye is coming from in saying that he’s getting Klitschko at the right time of his career. Haye means that Joshua is getting the fight against Wladimir with him being pretty over-the-hill. Joshua seems to be confused in what Haye means.

Let’s be honest. Wladimir has not really looked good in many years. Even when he beat Alexander Povetkin in 2013, he didn’t look overly impressive in that fight. The boxing fans were booing Wladimir like mad in that fight. Wladimir has struggled since then in winning fights and looking worse each time out.

I can understand Joshua being excited about the payday he’s going to get in fighting Wladimir. It’s going to be quite bit of money that Joshua will be getting due to the British boxing fans purchasing the fight on Sky Box Office PPV and seeing it live at Wembley Stadium in London, England.

What I don’t quite understand is why Joshua would see the fight as having a whole lot of meaning. Joshua has been blabbering recently about the fight turning him into a legend overnight. Joshua seems to be detached from reality when he talks like that, because Wladimir was just beaten by Tyson Fury in his last fight.

Fury wasn’t transformed into a legend after beating Wladimir by the boxing public. The reason why was because they saw how bad Wladimir looked in that fight. They noticed that Wladimir couldn’t pull the trigger on his punches, and how he couldn’t hit the side of the barn with his right hands. To a lot of the boxing fans, Wladimir looked like an old guy who could no longer get the job done. As such, Fury wasn’t transformed into a legend. He did transform his physique on his own into an overweight guy that looks nothing like an athlete. That’s the only transformation I saw with Fury.

“I understand where he’s coming from, but it doesn’t matter when I fight,” said Joshua about his fight against Wladimir. “It has to be the perfect time because I’ve taken the challenge.”
I’d rather Joshua pick out a better fighter for the “perfect time” to fight them like Deontay Wilder or Luis Ortiz. If Joshua is going to be messing about fighting aging guys like Wladimir or bottom fringe level fighters like Dominic Breazeale and Eric Molina, then there’s no sport in that. Joshua can do a heck of a lot better than that.

With the way that Joshua is being matched by his promoter Eddie Hearn, it just looks to me like he’s getting the easiest paydays possible for him that the British boxing fans will pay to see. I know there are worse fighters than Klitschko, Molina and Breazeale for Joshua to fight right now, but Hearn obviously isn’t going to put him in with guys that his fans would have no interest at all in paying to see.

Hearn seems to be matching Joshua really careful right now to make sure he doesn’t face someone that will throw punches back at him and potentially stop the gravy train by knocking him out. You know it’s going to happen eventually if Joshua sticks around long enough. Joshua is eventually going to get knocked out by someone that throws punches back at him.

I wasn’t surprised though when I recently read that Joshua is talking about retiring in five years from now. That tells me that Joshua wants to make sure he doesn’t ever get beaten. If Joshua plans on ending his career at the age of 32 in five years, he might be able to retire undefeated with Hearn matching him with care. I don’t think Joshua will have much of a legacy through if he’s continually matched against bottom feeders and/or old guys like 41-year-old Wladimir instead of the top talents in the division.

Joshua should be fighting these guys if he wants ANY kind of a legacy:

– Deontay Wilder

– Jarrell Miller

– Luis Ortiz

– Kubrat Pulev

– Bermane Stiverne

– Alexander Povetkin

– David Haye

– Andy Ruiz Jr.

– Joseph Parker

The heavyweight division is so poor right now that it’s really hard to become a legend with the mediocre bunch that is at the top right now. If the division doesn’t improve with a lot of new blood in the next five years, then I don’t see Joshua having any real legacy when he retires.

I couldn’t rate the guy if he retired undefeated even if he beat the top fighters on my list. The ONLY way I’ll rate Joshua is if he fights another 15 years, and if he beats a lot of top fighters that come around to occupy the top spots in the division. Right now, the heavyweight division is not filled with top rated talent. But if Joshua sticks around for 15 more years, he’ll have to deal with a lot of young lions that will test his chin.

These guys won’t come into his fights in less than 100 percent condition like his last opponent Molina, and they sure as heck won’t just stand with their backs against the ropes not throwing punches. They’re going to be bouncing shots off of Joshua’s chin and looking to take him out. But if Joshua opts to retire in five years, then he’ll be taking the easy way out by avoiding the flood of talent that will come into the division in the next 15 years. For that reason, I don’t see Joshua having any real legacy even if he retires after five years. When you retire early, you don’t prove that you’re a real talent, because you fail to prove that you were the best over an extended period of time.