Anthony Joshua Vs. Wladimir Klitschko
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Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko was a
professional boxing Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse bid, purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regula ...
match contested between
Anthony Joshua Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua (born 15 October 1989) is an English professional boxer. He is a two-time former unified world heavyweight champion, having held the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO titles twice between 2016 and 2021. At r ...
and
Wladimir Klitschko Wladimir Klitschko; an equivalent English spelling is Vladimir Klichko . His full name in uk, label=Ukrainian is, Володимир Володимирович Кличко, Volodymyr Volodymyrovych Klychko, . ( uk, Володимир ВолР...
. The event took place on 29 April 2017 at
Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...
in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, England, with Joshua's
IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...
and the vacant
WBA (Super) The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is the oldest and one of four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxi ...
and IBO
heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the Wo ...
titles on the line. Joshua, 27, won the match via
technical knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...
(TKO) in the eleventh round with 90,000 fans in attendance. Klitschko, 41, announced his retirement from boxing a few months after the fight. The bout was named Fight of the Year by ''The Ring'' and the
Boxing Writers Association of America The Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) was originally formed in 1926 as the Boxing Writers Association of Greater New York. The association's purpose is to promote better working conditions for boxing writers, as well as hold its writers ...
.


Background

It was announced in August 2016 that
Anthony Joshua Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua (born 15 October 1989) is an English professional boxer. He is a two-time former unified world heavyweight champion, having held the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO titles twice between 2016 and 2021. At r ...
would be making a second defence of his
IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...
title at the
Manchester Arena Manchester Arena, currently referred to as the AO Arena for sponsorship reasons, is an indoor arena in Manchester, England, immediately north of the Manchester city centre, city centre and partly above Manchester Victoria station in air rights s ...
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 Kubrat Venkov Pulev ( bg, Кубрат Венков Пулев; born 4 May 1981) is a Bulgarian professional boxer. He has challenged twice for the unified heavyweight title in 2014 and 2020. At regional level, he has held multiple heavyweight ...
,
Bermane Stiverne Bermane Stiverne (born November 1, 1978) is a Haitian-Canadian professional boxer. He held the WBC heavyweight title from 2014 to 2015. He also challenged twice for world titles in 2017 and 2021. Amateur career Stiverne started boxing at the ...
,
Hughie Fury Hughie Lewis Fury (born 18 September 1994) is a British professional boxer. He challenged once for the WBO heavyweight title in 2017 at 23 years old and at national level held the British heavyweight title in 2018. As an amateur he represent ...
and Joseph Parker. Former unified heavyweight champion
Wladimir Klitschko Wladimir Klitschko; an equivalent English spelling is Vladimir Klichko . His full name in uk, label=Ukrainian is, Володимир Володимирович Кличко, Volodymyr Volodymyrovych Klychko, . ( uk, Володимир ВолР...
became the frontrunner after his scheduled rematch with
Tyson Fury Tyson Luke Fury (born 12 August 1988) is an English professional boxer. He is a two-time world heavyweight champion, having held the World Boxing Council, WBC title since defeating Deontay Wilder in 2020, and ''The Ring (magazine), The Ring'' ...
was cancelled for a second time. Days after the Fury rematch was called off, Klitschko was approached by Joshua's promoter,
Eddie Hearn Edward John Hearn (born 8 June 1979) is a British sports promoter who is chairman of Matchroom Sport and Professional Darts Corporation. Hearn is the son of promoter Barry Hearn, the founder of Matchroom Sport. Education Hearn was a student a ...
. Terms seemed to have been agreed for a £30m showdown, although an initial contract was yet to be signed. After Fury gave up his world titles, it was said that Klitschko wanted the WBA title on the line in the potential match up against Joshua. The WBA delayed sanctioning the fight due to having a legal settlement with
Lucas Browne Lucas Browne (born 14 April 1979) is an Australian professional boxer and former mixed martial artist and kickboxer. He held the WBA (Regular) heavyweight title in 2016 when he stopped Ruslan Chagaev. At regional level, he has held multiple hea ...
, who was next in line to fight for the vacant title. Klitschko then turned his attention to fighting Browne instead on 10 December, a date that his team had booked for an arena in Germany. A deal could not be finalised 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. Klitschko said he would be looking to fight Joshua in the first quarter of 2017. Talks between the Klitschko camp and Hearn remained active with a fight set for the first part of 2017.
Bryant Jennings Bryant Jennings (born September 25, 1984) is an American former professional boxer. He challenged once for the unified world heavyweight titles in 2015, and the WBA interim heavyweight title in the same year. Jennings holds notable wins over fo ...
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 title against former world title challenger Éric Molina (25–3, 19 KOs), who was coming off a stoppage victory against
Tomasz Adamek Tomasz "Tomek" Adamek (; born 1 December 1976) is a Polish former professional boxer who competed from 1999 to 2018. He held world championships in two weight class (boxing), weight classes, including the World Boxing Council, WBC light heavyweig ...
. On 2 November, the WBA finally agreed to sanction a fight for their super title as long as Joshua defeats Molina in December 2016. The fight was televised in the United States live on
Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...
. After two one sided rounds, which saw Molina hardly throw anything, Joshua knocked Molina out in the third round. Immediately after Joshua the win, Klitschko was invited into the ring by Hearn. It was announced that Joshua and Klitschko would face each other for the IBF and vacant WBA (Super) titles at
Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...
, London, on 29 April 2017. WBA president Gilberto J. Mendoza confirmed that the winner would have to face
mandatory challenger In professional boxing and some other combat sports, a mandatory challenger is an opponent whom a champion must either fight or be forced to vacate their title as champion. A mandatory defence is the opposite of a voluntary defence, where the champi ...
Luis Ortiz next, with deadlines due to be set after the unification fight. It was then confirmed that the winner between Joshua and Klitschko had to face Kubrat Pulev next as the IBF's mandatory challenger.


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. London Mayor
Sadiq Khan Sadiq Aman Khan (; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting from 2005 until 2016. A member of the Labour Party, Khan is on the party's sof ...
cleared the way for a crowd of 90,000, equalling the British record of
Len Harvey Leonard Austen Harvey (11 July 1907 – 28 November 1976) was a British boxer. A great defensive boxer, he boxed at every weight division available at the time, from flyweight to heavyweight. He became the light-heavyweight and heavyweight ch ...
and
Jock McAvoy Joseph Patrick Bamford (20 November 1908 – 20 November 1971), better known by his ring name Jock McAvoy, was a British boxer who fought from 1927 to 1945. He held the British Empire Middleweight Championship from 1933 to 1939, and took the ...
set in 1939 and making it the biggest crowd for a heavyweight fight in 90 years. The fight build-up was noted for the humility shown from both boxers, with the lack of
trash talk Trash talk is a form of insult usually found in sports events, although it is not exclusive to sports or similarly characterized events. It is often used to intimidate the opposition and/or make them less confident in their abilities as to win e ...
described as being refreshing. The bout was predicted to generate the biggest betting turnover in sports history at £100 million, with £20 million coming from the UK.


Fight details

In front of a post-war record crowd of 90,000 in attendance, Joshua won by
technical knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...
(TKO) in the eleventh round. They fought a close and cautious first four rounds. In the fifth, Joshua came out and sent Klitschko to the canvas with a barrage of punches. Klitschko rose up and took control for the remainder of the round and scoring his own knockdown in round six. The next few rounds were again cautious, both men wary of each other, until a reinvigorated Joshua attacked Klitschko in round eleven, 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. At the time of stoppage, Joshua was ahead on two judges' scorecards with 96–93 and 95–93, while the third judge had Klitschko ahead at 95–93.
CompuBox CompuBox is the name of a computerized punches scoring system run by two operators. CompuBox is used in boxing matches around the world. Background The system is based on a computer program, originally named FightStat, developed by Jon Gibbs in ...
stats showed that Joshua landed 107 of his 355 punches thrown (30%), and Klitschko landed 94 of 256 (37%). 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."


Reception

Prior to the fight, ''
Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service con ...
'' called it "the most anticipated boxing match in decades". 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 to and exceeded expectations. The fight, according to ''
The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...
'', "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.
ESPN.com ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc. History Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including ...
called it "the biggest heavyweight fight since Lennox Lewis knocked out Mike Tyson".
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
called it "the biggest heavyweight title fight in more than a decade".


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." Hearn said Joshua's next fight would likely take place at the end of the year, possibly at the
Principality Stadium The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rug ...
in
Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
. On 3 August 2017, Klitschko announced on his official website and social media channels that he was retiring from boxing.


Fight card



Broadcasting

The domestic television rights to the fight were held by Sky Sports Box Office
pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...
, while radio rights were held by
BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcast ...
. 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 Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...
and
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
to hold rights to this fight. In a contrast to
Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao, billed as the ''Fight of the Century'' or the ''Battle for Greatness'', was a professional boxing superfight between undefeated five-division world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and eight-division worl ...
, 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 ''HBO World Championship Boxing'' (in later years stylized in its title card as ''HBO Boxing – World Championship'') was an American sports television series on premium television network HBO. It premiered on January 22, 1973 with a fight that ...
'' and ''
Showtime Championship Boxing ''Showtime Championship Boxing'' is a television boxing program airing on Showtime. Debuting in March 1986, it is broadcast live on the first Saturday of every month. ''Showtime Championship Boxing'', which is very similar to ''HBO World Champi ...
'' 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 The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small por ...
). Likewise, HBO broadcast the bout on tape delay later in the night. 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." The fight's cumulative worldwide audience is estimated to be 500 million viewers. In the United Kingdom, the fight set a domestic
PPV PPV, ppv or pPv may refer to: Technology * Pay-per-view on cable or satellite television * People Powered Vehicle, a human-powered vehicle from 1970 * Police Pursuit Vehicles, the most common police vehicles in the United States and Canada Scienc ...
record, with 1.532million buys, exceeding the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight. At a viewing price of £20 ($26), the JoshuaKlitschko fight grossed approximately £million ($million) in pay-per-view revenue. In total, the fight generated an estimated £50million () in revenue from all sources, including live gate, pay-per-view, and overseas broadcasting. 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. 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. 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 Mariusz Wach (; born 14 December 1979) is a Polish professional boxer. He challenged once for the unified WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight titles against Wladimir Klitschko in 2012. Early life Mariusz Wach was born 14 December 1979 ...
in 2012, which was watched by 11 million and Klitschko vs. Haye, which was seen by over 16 million. In Ukraine, the match averaged 4.4 million viewers, becoming the most watched sporting event of 2017 in the country.


References


External links

* professional record at
BoxRec BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopaedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every profess ...
* professional record at BoxRec {{DEFAULTSORT:Klitschko, Klitschko World Boxing Association heavyweight championship matches International Boxing Federation heavyweight championship matches Boxing in London 2017 in boxing Sky Sports 2017 in British sport April 2017 sports events in the United Kingdom 2017 sports events in London Klitschko brothers International sports competitions in London Events at Wembley Stadium International Boxing Organization heavyweight championship matches Pay-per-view boxing matches Boxing matches involving Anthony Joshua