Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko

Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko

Date	29 April 2017
Venue	Wembley Stadium, London, England
Title(s) on the line	WBA (Super), IBF and IBO heavyweight titles
Tale of the tape
Boxer Anthony Joshua Wladimir Klitschko Nickname "AJ" "Dr. Steelhammer" Hometown Watford, England Kiev, Ukraine Pre-fight record 18–0 (18 KOs) 64–4 (53 KOs) Height 6 ft 6 in 6 ft 6 in Weight 250 lbs 240 lbs Style Orthodox Orthodox Recognition IBF heavyweight champion; The Ring rank No. 5; BoxRec rank No. 1 WBA rank No. 2; IBF rank No. 3; The Ring rank No. 1
Result
Joshua defeated Klitschko by 11th round technical knockout

Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko was a professional boxing match contested between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko. The event took place on 29 April 2017 at Wembley Stadium in London, England, with Joshua's IBF and the vacant WBA (Super) and IBO heavyweight titles on the line. Joshua won the match via technical knockout in the 11th round. Klitschko announced his retirement from boxing a few months after the fight.

Background

It was announced in August 2016 that Joshua would be making a second defence of his IBF title at the Manchester Arena on 26 November. This would mark the first time since September 2014 that Joshua would be fighting in the city. Possible names put forward for the fight were top IBF contenders Kubrat Pulev, Bermane Stiverne, Hughie Fury and Joseph Parker.^[1][2][3] Former unified heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko became the frontrunner after his scheduled rematch with Tyson Fury was cancelled for a second time.^[4][5]

Days after the Fury rematch was called off, Klitschko was approached by Eddie Hearn, who promotes IBF champion Anthony Joshua, to fight on 28 November date they had set for a second defence. Terms seemed to have been agreed for a $30m fight showdown although an initial contract was yet to be signed.^[6] After Fury gave up his world titles, it was said that Klitschko wanted the WBA title up for grabs in the potential match up against Joshua and waiting for approval, which the WBA kept postponing.^[7] A reason as to why the WBA was delaying sanctioning the fight was due them having a legal settlement with Lucas Browne so he could fight for the vacant title next. Klitschko then turned his attention to fighting Browne instead on 10 December, a date his team had an arena set for in Germany.^[8] A deal could not be finalized for Joshua vs. Klitschko, due to the WBA delaying a decision to sanction the fight and Klitschko injuring himself, which put the fight off completely.^[9] Klitschko said he would be looking to fight Joshua in the first quarter of 2017.^[10] Talks between the Klitschko camp and Hearn remained active with a fight set for the first part of 2017.^[11][12]

Bryant Jennings and David Price were the names being pushed forward to fight Joshua next, however it was announced Joshua would be fighting at the Manchester Arena defending his world title against former world title challenger Éric Molina (25-3, 19 KOs), who was coming off a stoppage victory against Tomasz Adamek, although being behind on the official scorecards. On 2 November, the WBA finally agreed to sanction a fight for their super title as long as Joshua defeats Éric Molina in December 2016.^[13] The fight was televised in the United States live on Showtime.^[14][15] After two one sided rounds, which saw Molina hardly throw anything, Joshua knocked Molina out in the third round.^[16]

Immediately after Joshua had defeated Molina at the Manchester Arena, Klitschko was invited into the ring by Hearn. It was announced that Klitschko and Joshua would face each other for the IBF and WBA (Super) titles at Wembley Stadium, London, on 29 April 2017.^[17] WBA president Gilberto J. Mendoza confirmed that the winner would have to face mandatory challenger Luis Ortiz next, with deadlines due to be set after the unification fight.^[18][19] It was then confirmed that the winner between Joshua and Klitschko had to face Kubrat Pulev next as the IBF's mandatory challenger.^[20]

Build-up

In January 2017, Eddie Hearn announced that more than 80,000 tickets had been sold, a new box office record, overtaking Carl Froch vs. George Groves II. He put a request in for 5,000 more tickets to be made available.^[21][22] London Mayor Sadiq Khan cleared the way for a crowd of 90,000, equalling the British record of Len Harvey and Jock McAvoy set in 1939^[23] and making it the biggest crowd for a heavyweight fight in 90 years.^[24]

The fight build-up was noted for the humility of its two boxers, with its little trash talk described as being refreshing.^[24]

Ahead of the fight, Joshua was regarded as the 6th best heavyweight in the world by The Ring magazine, while Klitschko was 2nd behind The Ring champion Tyson Fury. The website BoxRec had Joshua ranked number 1 in the heavyweight division. Klitschko was not ranked by BoxRec due to inactivity.^[25]

Fight details

In front of a post-war record crowd of 90,000 in attendance, Joshua won by TKO in the eleventh round. They fought a close and cautious first four rounds. In the fifth, Joshua came out and barraged Klitschko to the canvas. Klitschko rose up and dominated Joshua for the remainder of the round, battering him and scoring his own knockdown in round 6. The next few rounds were again cautious, both men wary of each other, until a reinvigorated Joshua attacked Klitschko in round 11, sending him to the canvas. Klitschko again rose but Joshua knocked him down for a second time in the round, then sent a barrage of punches while Klitschko was against the ropes that made the referee stop the fight.^[26][27]

At the time of stoppage, Joshua was ahead on two judges' scorecards 96–93 and 95–93, and the third judge had Klitschko ahead 95–93. CompuBox stats showed that Joshua landed 107 of his 355 punches thrown (30%), and Klitschko landed 94 of 256 (37%).^[28] Joshua called out Tyson Fury in the post fight interview, "Tyson Fury, where you at, baby? Come on -- that's what they want to see. I just want to fight everyone. I'm really enjoying this right now."^[29][30]

Reception

Prior to the fight, Deutsche Welle called it "the most anticipated boxing match in decades".^[31]

After the bout, the fight was met with critical acclaim. Both fighters were praised for their performances, with many critics and fans believing that the fight lived up and exceeded expectations. The fight, according to The Economist, "will be remembered as a spectacular one, perhaps even as a classic, for its dramatic swings in momentum and the ferocity of the punching" and for waking heavyweight boxing "from a prolonged slumber" during the years of unrivalled Klitschko dominance.^[24] ESPN.com called it "the biggest heavyweight fight since Lennox Lewis knocked out Mike Tyson".^[32] Associated Press called it "the biggest heavyweight title fight in more than a decade".^[33]

Aftermath

In the press conference after the fight, Joshua said he would have no issues with having another fight with Klitschko, "I don’t mind fighting him again, if he wants the rematch. Big respect to Wladimir for challenging the young lions of the division. It’s up to him, I don’t mind. As long as Rob thinks it’s good I’m good to go." Eddie Hearn said Joshua's next fight would likely take place at the end of the year, possibly at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.^[34] On 3 August 2017, Klitschko announced on his official website and social media channels that he was retiring from boxing.^[35][36]

Fight card

Weight class		vs.		Method	Round	Time	Notes
Heavyweight	Anthony Joshua (c)	def.	Wladimir Klitschko	TKO	11	2:25	Note 1
Featherweight	Scott Quigg	def.	Viorel Simion	UD	12	–
Lightweight	Luke Campbell	def.	Darleys Pérez	TKO	9/12	1:28
Women's lightweight	Katie Taylor	def.	Nina Meinke	TKO	7/10	0:57	Note 2
Super featherweight	Joe Cordina	def.	Sergej Vib	TKO	1/4	1:59

^Note 1 For IBF, vacant WBA (Super) and vacant IBO heavyweight titles.
^Note 2 For vacant WBA female Inter-Continental lightweight title.

Broadcasting

The domestic television rights to the fight were held by Sky Sports Box Office pay-per-view, while radio rights were held by BBC Radio 5 Live.^[37] In the United States, as rights to Joshua and Klitschko's fights have historically been held by the two networks respectively, an arrangement was made for both Showtime and HBO to hold rights to this fight. In a contrast to Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao, which was broadcast via a PPV jointly produced by both networks, HBO and Showtime produced their own separate telecasts as part of their respective HBO World Championship Boxing and Showtime Championship Boxing brands, and Showtime beat HBO for exclusive rights to broadcast the fight live in the U.S. (where it occurred in the afternoon hours in the Eastern Time Zone). Likewise, HBO broadcast the bout on tape delay later in the night.^[38]

Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn stated that "it takes a special fight to break down barriers and boundaries but also networks and executives who believe in working with the best interest of fight fans in mind", and thanked both networks "for their perseverance and allowing America to see one hell of a fight at our national stadium."^[37][39]

In the United Kingdom, the fight set a domestic PPV record,^[40] with 1.532 million buys,^[41][42] exceeding the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight.^[43] At a viewing price of £20 ($26),^[40] the Joshua–Klitschko fight grossed approximately £31 million ($40 million) in pay-per-view revenue. In total, the fight generated an estimated £50 million ($64 million) in revenue from all sources, including live gate, pay-per-view, and overseas broadcasting.^[44]

In the U.S., the fight averaged 659,000 viewers on Showtime; Nielsen reported that the fight peaked between rounds five and six with 687,000 viewers, beating a record for Showtime afternoon fight ratings previously set by Joshua.^[45] The delayed broadcast on HBO (which fell during U.S. nighttime hours) was seen by an average of 738,000 viewers and peaked at 890,000.^[46][47]

In a press release, German TV channel RTL announced the fight was watched by an average 10.43 million viewers. The whole card averaged 9.59 million viewers. This was higher than the 8.91 million that tuned in to watch Klitschko vs. Fury in 2015. It did lower numbers than Klitschko's win over Mariusz Wach in 2012, which was watched by 11 million and Klitschko vs. Haye, which was seen by over 16 million.^[48] In Ukraine, the match averaged 4.4 million viewers, becoming the most watched sporting event of 2017 in the country.^[49]

Country	Broadcaster
Albania	SuperSport
Argentina	TyC Sports
Austria	RTL
Australia	Main Event
Belgium	VOOsport
Bulgaria	Sport+ HD
Canada	HBO Canada
Croatia	RTL Televizija
Czech Republic	Nova Sport 1
Denmark	Viaplay
Estonia	Viasat Sport Baltic
Finland	Viaplay
France	SFR Sport
Germany	RTL
Greece	ANT1 (broadcast delay)
Hungary	Sport1
Indonesia	Kompas TV [50]
Ireland	Sky Box Office
Italy	Sky Sport Plus Fox Sports
Japan	WOWOW Live
Latvia	Viasat Sport Baltic
Liechtenstein	RTL
Lithuania	Viasat Sport Baltic
Moldova	Pro TV
Netherlands	RTL 7
New Zealand	SKY Arena
Norway	Viaplay
Philippines	TV5
Poland	Polsat Sport
Romania	Pro TV Sport.ro
Russia	Match TV Match!Boets
Serbia	RTS
Slovakia	Dajto
Slovenia	RTL
South Africa	Soweto TV
Spain	Movistar+
Sweden	Viaplay
Switzerland	RTL
Tajikistan	Varzish Sport
Turkey	Tivibu Spor
Ukraine	Inter
United Arab Emirates	OSN Sports
United Kingdom	Sky Box Office
United States	Showtime (exclusive live rights) HBO (tape delayed)
Uzbekistan	Uzreport TV
Sub-Saharan Africa	Kwesé Sports

References

External links

• Anthony Joshua professional record at BoxRec
• Wladimir Klitschko professional record at BoxRec