Sports

Joshua Vs Klitschko: Is Joshua The Perfect Heavyweight?

Published

9 years ago

April 28, 2017

A crowd of 90,000 around the ring at Wembley, a million more on pay-per-view at home, an opponent who has been in more world title fights than he has professional bouts.
Little about Saturday’s heavyweight showdown with Wladimir Klitschko should leave Anthony Joshua as unnaturally calm as he appears to be. But the kid from Watford turned IBF world champion stands in a sweet eddy in his division’s turbulent waters – the past all promise, the future more auspicious still.
Heavyweight boxing is so often about hope and hype above authenticity, delusion rather than cold reality.
Punters come back not because so many title fights prove unforgettable, but for the promise that the next really will be – repeat experiences of disappointing champions, meaningless titles and badly made matches pushed away by the beguiling possibility of what might yet lie ahead.
Joshua – 18 fights and less than a cumulative two ring hours into a professional career that followed hard on a late start and rapid progression – goes to Wembley defined by the same heady mix of promise and possibility: that at 27 he has too much speed and power for the 41-year-old Klitschko, that his rapid improvement will continue at the same steep pace, that he could yet prove the perfect heavyweight at an imperfect time for the most captivating class of all.
For the Joshua of today – hours before the biggest test of his sporting life – appears to have everything the archetypal champion should possess.
There is his physique: big without being bulky, powerful but explosive, a little reminiscent of Ken Norton through his mid-70s trilogy with Muhammad Ali.
There is the back story: just the right amount of jeopardy, on remand in Reading prison and later caught in possession of eight ounces of cannabis, before a classical conversion to boxing via a dedicated cousin and grassroots coach, winning the last home gold medal of Great Britain’s historic haul on the very last day of the 2012 Olympics.
There is the unpretentiousness of a man who still lives much of the time with his mother, Yeta, in Golders Green, north London. He has prepared for Saturday night with a three-month training camp at the same unglamorous English Institute of Sport in Sheffield that was both home to fellow Olympic champion Dame Jess Ennis-Hill and where he trained under coach Rob McCracken in the build-up to those London Games.
There is enough easy charisma to attract both boxing acolytes and cynics, enough charm to stop for every selfie without making it look like a conscious exercise in personal marketing, sufficient understanding of where he has come from to recently gift that first coach at the Finchley & District Amateur Boxing Club, Sean Murphy, a brand new BMW with personalised plates.
And there are the knockouts. Eighteen in 18 pro fights, 13 of them inside the first three rounds.
People do not pay big money for heavyweight fights to see them go the distance. Nobody turned up to watch Mike Tyson look technically neat for 12 rounds. Lots have decried Klitschko for his sensible strategies.
They go to see it end as quickly as possible, the sudden termination worth more than a drawn-out dance. It is the only sport where punters are more satisfied the less they see.
As Joshua said when bumping into a beaming Jose Mourinho backstage at the O2 arena a year ago after taking the IBF heavyweight title from Charles Martin with a second-round knockout: “People want to see blood, uh?”
That was the first fight Mourinho had ever been to – another illustration of Joshua’s rare draw, with the Manchester United manager’s star-struck grin one more. Joshua looked as relaxed as if he was shaking hands with a steward, his composure as unbroken as it had been in the ring.
All possibilities, all promises. All pointers to a special future and a place amongst the elite.
And yet so little of it can be guaranteed this early in his entry into a brutal business, not when the challenges will keep coming in different shapes and guises both on Saturday and beyond.
There is no obvious nastiness about Joshua, his behaviour in the build-up to this fight is in contrast to that of fellow Britons David Haye and Tyson Fury in their own battles with Klitschko. In traditional boxing parlance that is a flaw rather than a strength. Villains sell tickets. Bad guys get paid to be bad.
When you’ve sold 90,000 tickets on the appeal of your other attributes that may be less of a worry than it would be for other fighters.
But there are still great unknowns amid the allure. How might a man who didn’t box until after his 18th birthday fare against an opponent who has been fighting in front of stadium sellouts for decades? How will a kid who was seven years old when Klitschko made his professional debut cope with an atmosphere that British boxing has never seen before?
Klitschko is now 41 years old. He was soundly beaten by Fury and hasn’t fought in the 16 months since. But he has held all three world titles and lost only four out of 68 professional fights.
When Joshua last felt real pressure – in his grudge match against Dillian Whyte – the composure sometimes slipped. In his rush to finish it, he was almost finished himself.
“There is a chance that Josh could be completely out of his depth,” says his promoter, Eddie Hearn, before adding: “And there is a chance he could be the fighter we believe he is, and he goes out there and dismantles Klitschko. No-one really knows, and that’s the beauty of the fight.”
Can Joshua handle the unexpected explosive punch? Maybe very few heavyweights can. Ask Lennox Lewis about that night in Carnival City Casino and the impact of Hasim Rahman’s right hand.
Maybe the rumours of Joshua being dropped in sparring are just that, or that he is not a gym fighter, or that he needs the challenge of a big fight to bring out his best. Maybe it doesn’t matter that only twice in his professional career has he gone beyond the third round.
“Professional fighters – we’re not gods, we’re not superheroes,” he has said. “We are just human and we make mistakes.”
At this moment, Joshua has both a burgeoning aura of invincibility and the character outside the ring to match it. He is also at his tipping point between relative fame inside sport and a leap – should he triumph at Wembley – into the wider public consciousness.
“If it’s all fake, people will soon figure it out,” he has said. “Just be yourself.”
The one-time bricklayer believes it. He also admitted recently that he is aiming to become boxing’s first billionaire. Both that and the extravagance of his recent escapades on holiday in Dubai pointed to a possible contradiction between the two positions. Few intend to change when they pass through that tipping point, but when the world around you changes, you tend to adjust to it.
It is all part of the fascination with Joshua, all part of that same magic blend of prospect and probability.
Nothing has been lost, everything is still possible. Boxing still feels fresh to him, its fascination bright, his love of its nuances and enthusiasm for its punishing routines undimmed.
And so we wait, hoping again, drawn in once more by rich promise and real talent – and, of course, a little hype.
Fordyce is BBC Sport’s Chief Sports Writer.

Tom Fordyce

Sports

Forest Embarrass Liverpool At Anfield

Published

1 week ago

November 24, 2025

The Tide

Liverpool’s season of abject misery worsened as they were beaten with embarrassing ease by a hugely impressive Nottingham Forest at Anfield.

Arne Slot’s Premier League champions were looking to bounce back from a heavy defeat at Manchester City, but instead ran into a Forest side revitalised under new manager Sean Dyche and looking back to their best.

Liverpool head coach Slot gave £125m British record signing Alexander Isak a start, but he was totally anonymous once more and only lasted 67 minutes.

Forest went ahead after 33 minutes when defender Murillo shot powerfully past fit-again Liverpool keeper Alisson to subdue an already anxious Anfield.

Igor Jesus had a second ruled out for handball, but Forest doubled their advantage 39 seconds after the break when former Liverpool defender Neco Williams set up Nicola Savona for a crisp finish in front of The Kop.

Liverpool could barely raise a response in a desperate display, Forest increasing their lead 12 minutes from time when Morgan Gibbs-White scored after Alisson saved from Omari Hutchinson.

It means Liverpool, who lie 11th before Saturday’s late fixture, have now lost six of their past seven Premier League games as Slot’s near £450m summer spending spree comes under further scrutiny.

Forest, meanwhile, are surging away from the relegation zone and are up to 16th.

Sports

Bundesliga: Oliseh Stars As Bayern Rebound To Thrash Freiburg

Published

1 week ago

November 24, 2025

The Tide

Michael Olise scored twice and provided a hat-trick of assists as Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich came from two goals down to thrash Freiburg.

The visitors stunned the defending champions by taking a 2-0 lead after just 17 minutes when Yuito Suzuki scored from close range and Johan Manzambi rose highest to head home Jan-Niklas Beste’s corner.

Bayern, who had not lost in the league since March, responded superbly and had restored parity by half-time.

Teenager Lennart Karl fired into the bottom corner from Olise’s pass in the 22nd minute and set up the Frenchman for a fierce finish in first-half injury-time, although Freiburg goalkeeper Noah Atubolu should have done better.

Bayern took control in the second period as Dayot Upamecano headed home Olise’s corner to put them ahead for the first time.

England captain Harry Kane netted his 14th league goal of the campaign on the hour mark, before Olise made it three assists when he threaded a pass through for Nicolas Jackson to finish at the first time of asking in the 78th minute.

Winger Olise completed a sensational afternoon with his second of the game six minutes later, driving at the Freiburg defence and curling into the far corner.

A 10th victory in the first 11 games left Bayern eight points clear of second-placed Bayer Leverkusen, while Freiburg remain 10th in the standings.

Vincent Kompany’s side visit Arsenal in the Champions League on Wednesday with both sides having a perfect record of four wins so far in the league phase of the competition.

AS FAR Morocco Win African Women’s Champions League (8)

AS FAR held firm to beat debutants ASEC Mimosas 2-1 in the African Women’s Champions League final and become continental champions for the second time.

Hanane Ait El Haj put the Moroccan club ahead from the penalty spot in the 13th minute after Safa Banouk had been tripped by Aboa Yapo.

ASEC Mimosas rallied after the break and Ami Priscal Diallo netted a fine header from Sopie Brou’s cross to drag the Ivory Coast club level 10 minutes into the second half.

But AS FAR were handed a second spot-kick in the closing stages when Noura Diarra committed a rash challenge on Sofia Bouftini.

This time it was Zineb Redouani who stepped up to stroke home in the 85th minute and restore her side’s lead.

Asastasie Gbehi came close to forcing extra time but she poked wide of the post in stoppage time, and the centre-back was sent off after the full-time whistle for dissent.

AS FAR move level with South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns as two-time winners of the title, having first lifted the trophy in 2022.

The Rabat-based side will now take on Chinese’s Wuhan Jiangda on 14 December for a place at next year’s Fifa Women’s Champions Cup.

The winner of that match will face European champions Arsenal in the semi-finals of the inaugural competition early next year in London.

Sports

Barca Impress On Return To Camp Nou

Published

1 week ago

November 24, 2025

The Tide

Barcelona moved to the top of La Liga on Saturday with an emphatic win over 10-man Athletic Club in their first match at the Spotify Camp Nou since May 2023.

Robert Lewandowski scored their first goal back in their iconic home, which had been closed for extensive renovations, in the fourth minute.

Ferran Torres then netted twice in the second half, each assisted by wonderful skill from Lamine Yamal, who was aged just 15 in his only previous Nou Camp appearance.

Fermin Lopez also struck in the 48th minute, while visiting midfielder Oihan Sancet was sent off for a crude challenge on Lopez just six minutes later.

Large sections of the Nou Camp remained closed for the game, which was played in front of a 45,157 crowd.

The rebuilding work, which was originally scheduled to be finished in November 2024, will eventually increase the stadium’s capacity to 105,000.

Barca moved to 31 points from 13 games and top on goal difference, but Real Madrid had the chance to replace them, if they won at Elche in their game in hand, late last night.

Poland striker Lewandowski got his side off to the perfect start when he drove his low shot in off the arm of Athletic Club goalkeeper Unai Simon for an eighth league goal of the season.

The home side extended their lead in first-half added time as Yamal’s superb pass off the outside of his foot set up Torres for a good finish.

Lopez made it 3-0 three minutes after the restart, drilling a shot past Simon from near the penalty spot.

Sancet’s tackle from behind on Lopez was initially deemed a yellow card, but upgraded to red after the referee consulted with the video assistant referee (VAR).

And just before full-time, Yamal twisted and turned before sending Torres away to claim his second goal, which was originally disallowed for offside but overturned following a VAR check.

It was a dream return to their ground, with the reigning Spanish champions having mostly played at the 55,000 capacity Olympic Stadium on the city’s Montjuic hill since renovations on the Nou Camp began in June 2023.

They were forced to play two matches at the 6,000-capacity Johan Cruyff Stadium, home to their women’s team, this season after failing to get a permit for the Nou Camp through safety reasons.

Pogba Returns To Action In Ligue 1 (6)

Paul Pogba played his first minutes of professional football in more than two years as he came off the bench during Monaco’s 4-1 defeat by Rennes at the weekend.

The 32-year-old was introduced in the 85th minute at Rennes’ Roazhon Park, though his side were already four goals and a player down, following a red card for captain Denis Zakaria.

French World Cup winner Pogba broke down in tears when he joined Ligue 1 club Monaco last summer, after his four-year doping ban was reduced to 19 months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).

Pogba’s last competitive appearance was 811 days ago, when he featured for Juventus in a Serie A match against Empoli on 3 September 2023. He left Juventus by mutual consent in November 2024.

Pogba was provisionally banned from football for four years after a positive test for dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in February 2024, following a doping test in August 2023.

Pogba maintained it was a mistake and that he was given a supplement without knowing it contained a banned substance.

The former Manchester United midfielder was permitted to return to football in March following the decision to reduce his ban.

Pogba watched from the bench as goals from Abdelhamid Ait Boudlal, Mahdi Camara, Breel Embolo and Ludovic Blas put Rennes out of sight.

Fellow substitute Mika Biereth pulled a goal back for Monaco in the 95th minute, but a second consecutive 4-1 defeat means Sebastien Pocognoli’s side drop to eighth in the table with 20 points after 13 games.