In late April of 201, fans were enthralled as one of the greatest boxing fights of all time went down at Wembley Arena. A place once privy to the pride of Carl Froch now became the resting throne of heavyweight king Anthony Joshua!
The legendary lineal champion in Wladimir Klitschko had his 22 win streak over 11 years ended by Tyson Fury in Germany, but that decision was less than 'enthralling' and fans sought a true test for Klitschko in the variety of a young lion.
Although Klitschko has taken many men to the judges scorecards, nobody should under rate the power of his right hand or his all around skillset. He and his brother's reign over heavyweight boxing span over a hundred fights, 80 knockouts, and a combined four decades between them.
The matchup between Joshua and Klitschko was highly anticipated once announced; Joshua is a hard hitting and aggressive champion unlike the counter punching Fury, so when the fight went down, pugilists knew someone was going down for the count.
The early goings were a bit slow, rounds 1-4 were a feeling out process in which both men landed their licks, but neither landed anything truly substantial or fight changing. It wasn't until the 5th round when Wladimir landed his legendary right hand flush on the chin of 'AJ', and dropped him for the first time in his professional career.
Although Joshua had been rocked before in fights (such as against Dillian Whyte), he was always able to recover thouroughly, and his champion's heart came through in spades for the biggest fight of his life.
AJ got up from the canvas, and he started throwing a lot of hard punches all the while keeping a Klitschko who smelled blood off of him. Joshua survived, and in the 7th round he was able to secure a knockdown of his own punishing the ex-lineal champion with his trademark uppercut!
This is one of the most vital points of not only the fight for Anthony Joshua, but for his career. We never knew if he could take a massive shot and come back to perform well, but not only did he recover, he came back to destroy Klitschko in the latter landing at will.
The fight itself was pure glory. Both men pulled themselves from the canvas, and never stopped trying to win. It's honestly the greatest heavyweight fight I have ever seen (since Rumble in the Jungle), and I think Joshua cemented himself as the people's champion with this win.
Have you seen this fight? How'd it rank all time?
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