Nigerian born British heavyweight boxing champion, Anthony Oluseni Joshua, 27, survived the first knockdown of his young career, coming back to drop Wladimir Klitschko twice before stopping him in the 11th round Saturday night to retain his heavyweight titles-IBF, WBA and WBO. The 2012 Olympic gold medalist stake his claim as the biggest boxing’s star in the world today.
Before a boisterous crowd of 90,000 at Wembley Stadium, Joshua and Klitschko traded huge punches in a spectacular fifth round and again in the sixth before Joshua finally found a way to finish the longtime former champion late in the fight.
The biggest heavyweight fight in more than a decade was a thriller. Joshua went full throttle with a right uppercut early in the 11th round that spun Klitschko’s head around. He was all over the Ukrainian and dropped him with a left hook, but Klitschko got up only to take even more punishment.
Joshua knocked Klitschko down again and was landing punches to his head on the ropes when referee David Fields moved in to stop the bout late in the 11th round.
British boxer Anthony Joshua-IBF, WBO and WBO heavyweight world champion.
The fight was stopped at 2:25 of the 11th. Joshua was up 96-93 and 95-93 on two scorecards, while Klitschko was ahead 95-93 on the third. The Associated Press had it 94-94 going into the final round.
Klitschko, who reigned over the heavyweight division for a decade, was fighting both Joshua and Father Time at the age of 41. He knocked Joshua down in round six, having being knocked down in round five by Joshua.
It was a battle of massive heavyweights, with both standing 6-foot-6. Joshua weighed 250.1 pounds to 240.5 for Klitschko. Klitschko fell to 64-5 in a long career that began in 1996 after he won the Olympic gold in Atlanta. “It was really sad I didn’t make it tonight,” Klitschko said. “I was planning to do it. It didn’t work. But all respect to Anthony.”
“When you go to the trenches, that’s when you find out who you really are,” Joshua said. “In this small little ring here, there’s nowhere to hide.”
The biggest heavyweight title fight in more than a decade had a little something for everyone, and Joshua finished off in style. “As I said from the get-go, it will be a boxing classic and the best man will win,” Joshua said.
Joshua now has 19 victories in 19 professional fights.
