Joshua Proves He's The Real Deal

“I’m not perfect but I’m trying and if you don’t take part you’re going to fail”. Anthony Joshua’s words after his tremendously entertaining fight with Wladimir Klitschko may not make perfect sense but considering the war he went through with the Ukrainian pugilist it’s surprising he sounded that eloquent. The 27-year-old Brit took Klitschko apart at the start of the eleventh round and with perfect timing as it became clear to most observers that he was behind on points and needed the knock-out (or at least a knock down for a better points difference). Coming into that penultimate round I had Klitschko two points ahead on my scorecard but after the fight it was revealed that two of the judges had Joshua ahead and one of those was by three rounds. Not only were the TV commentary team surprised by that but I’m sure even the biggest Joshua fans wouldn’t have had him that far in front if at all.

At one point, it all looked to have fallen apart in the sixth round as the 41-year-old veteran turned back the years with a quick right which put the reigning champion on the canvas and facing a ten count for the first time in his career. Even when he returned to his feet he looked shaken and uncertain, desperate to make it to the end of the round to gather his senses which he successfully did. Just before the fight I wondered if we had put too much pressure on Joshua with the biggest fight (in terms of crowd size) in British boxing history, the massive Sky pay-per-view event and the rather drawn out celebratory ring entrance. I say ‘we’ as boxing fans, desperate for success with a fighter who is the real deal and can be acknowledged as a true heavyweight champion for the first time since Lennox Lewis. We don’t want a fighter that can win the title and then slide away to obscurity, we’re longing for a fighter that can unify the division and have a lengthy reign at the top of the boxing tree. Although we’ve had champions like David Haye and Tyson Fury we haven’t had they type of fighter than can emulate or even surpass the achievements of Lewis. Joshua looks like he could be that fighter but in that sixth round it looked like perhaps it was too much too soon.

To coin the cliched phrase though ‘cometh the hour, cometh the man’ and the reigning IBF champion showed real heart to come back from that knock down. I have seen a lot of title fights with British fighters in my time so I’ve probably seen a few get up off the canvas to win like Joshua did but the one the springs to mind (and the one that I was reminded of last night) was Nigel Benn’s comeback against Gerald McClellan in 1995. That fight will always be remembered for the effects of the brawl that put McClellan in a coma for two weeks and left him blind with other life changing injuries but for me it also showed the epitome of Benn’s heart. He was down twice in the fight yet came back both times to win what was a tremendous yet ultimately tragic battle. Benn was never the most skilled boxer but he had more heart and determination than any fighter I’ve seen and the way Joshua came back to beat Klitschko reminded me of that.

Earlier in the fight he had put Klitschko down with a combination of punches in the fifth round that got the Wembley crowd on its feet and roaring for victory. After surviving the sixth round scare it took Joshua some time to get his legs back under him and get his rhythm going again as Klitschko returned to the jabbing game for which he is famous. With 68 fights before this one and 64 victories from them the Ukrainian knows how to score points and drag a fight into the later rounds and if necessary to the judge’s scorecards. As the rounds flicked by he appeared to be landing more point-scoring punches than Joshua and by the end of round ten it appeared that the Brit needed a knock-out. I’d just sent a message to a friend saying Joshua needs a knock out to win when he landed an upper cut which rocked Klitschko to the soles of his boots. Joshua saw his chance and suddenly the energy was back and he was throwing combination punches like he had the vitality of the first round all over again. Twice Klitschko went down and twice he stood back up, showing the fighting spirit that got him through all those title defences and earning the respect of the Wembley crowd. When Joshua trapped him on the ropes for a final time with more punches raining it referee David Fields intervened and ended the fight to the delight of British boxing fans everywhere.

Joshua has now added the WBA belt to his IBF belt and one of the options for a next fight would surely be a unification bout with Deontay Wilder for the WBC belt. Wilder also has an unbeaten record with only one of his thirty-eight winning fights lasting the distance. That would certainly be one of the biggest fights in recent memory in any weight class and the heavyweight division looks to finally be returning to its position as the pinnacle of boxing. There are of course other options for Joshua and one will be a potential challenge from Fury when he returns to the ring. Both fighters have beaten Klitschko and Joshua v Fury would surely be another sell-out Wembley affair should it happen, hopefully with a better under-card than we had last night. There’s also the WBO champion from New Zealand, Joseph Parker, who sports an unbeaten twenty-two fight record with eighteen wins by knock-out. Whichever way promoter Eddie Hearn takes him next though there is no doubting that Anthony Joshua has all the minerals needed to be a true great. He was emotional in his post-fight interview and mentioned the doubters who wondered if he could go the distance and if he could cope with a great like Klitschko. Last night he answered those critics and then some. Before the fight I said he was almost in a lose-lose situation. If he lost to Klitschko he would be seen as another ‘false prophet’ whereas if he won they would say that his opponent was over the hill anyway. By winning the fight in the way that he did and as late as he did I think he will finally have stopped those doubters for good.