Report: Anthony Joshua vs Wladimir Klitschko to be announced next week
Anthony Joshua will apparently fight Wladimir Klitschko on December 10 in what will undoubtedly be one of the most hyped heavyweight title fights in years. While the bout hasn’t been made official just yet, an announcement is supposedly imminent.
The Telegraph’s Gareth A. Davies is reporting that IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua has landed a £30 million blockbuster bout against former division ruler Wladimir Klitschko, with an official announcement from Matchroom Sport slated for “early next week.”
With Tyson Fury having been stripped of his WBA and WBO titles — and previously his IBF strap, which Joshua went on to claim — Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs), who twice had rematches against Fury postponed, was left in limbo and in desperate search of a fight. By the time Klitschko faces Joshua (17-0, 17 KOs), the 40-year-old Ukrainian will have been idle for over a year.
Anthony Joshua, of course, served as a sparring partner for Klitschko a little over a year ago and garnered rave reviews from the then-champion, and a Joshua-Klitschko fight is fascinating for a variety of reasons. Here are a few more pertinent details from Davies’ report:
"Negotiations for the contest between the unbeaten London 2012 Olympic super-heavyweight champion and the Ukrainian were near completion last week, with the Manchester Arena or the Principality Stadium in Cardiff the potential venues.The O2 Arena in London had been preferred, but concerts by Madness on Dec 10 and Fat Boy Slim on Dec 17 are thought to have ruled it out. Promoter Eddie Hearn had been dropping hints all week that both heavyweights “should be in the gym focusing on fighting each other” while suggesting that Klitschko was a “big favourite” to meet Joshua in his 18th outing. The two are likely to share the purse, with the contest screened on Sky Box Office."
As Davies notes, the matter of whether the fight will be broadcast in the United States on HBO, which is attached to Wladimir Klitschko, or Showtime, which has invested heavily in Anthony Joshua over the past year, needs to be ironed out. Showtime has featured more heavyweight boxing than HBO in recent years with the emergence of Deontay Wilder, so expect them to push hard for the bout with a Joshua-Wilder unification contest looming as a lucrative option in 2017.
A fight between Joshua and Klitschko moves the proverbial needle because it is so polarizing. Former champion and current contender David Haye feels Joshua will walk through Klitschko, an opinion shared by many who view the 2012 Olympic champion as both the present and future of the division; on the other hand, a strong cohort of fans feel Klitschko’s experience will be too much for Joshua to overcome at this early stage of his career.
But make no mistake, this would be a massive fight. Anthony Joshua is already one of Britain’s most bankable boxing stars, and while Klitschko doesn’t particularly captivate American audiences, he is a legendary figure. Davies argues that Joshua-Klitschko could break the 1.2 million pay-per-view buys record for a title fight featuring a Brit, which came when Ricky Hatton lost to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2007. Don’t bet against this assertion.
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There’s also an appealing symbolic element to Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko fighting sooner rather than later. With Klitschko looking to dust himself off after a shocking loss and make one more run at boxing’s greatest crown, and Joshua hoping to establish himself as the sport’s next crossover star, the stakes — without even factoring in the lucrative paydays for both men — couldn’t be higher.