I think we are getting a bit ahead of ourselves with Joshua beating Klitsckho

problem is wlad will prove hard to hit for joshua, i think he will try and go in and steamroll wlad early, problem with that is he will leave himself open.

wlad is imo still the hardest hitting heavyweight around, question marks are still around about joshuas chin.

this fight will be explosive and a great watch but i see wlad poleaxing him with that sneaky short left hook of he's that you don't see coming, joshua leaves he's left hand low and almost got knocked by dillian whyte because of it, look and wlad vs pulev to see what happens when you don't keep the right hand up against wlad

 

I'd slightly favor Wlad if the fight actually happens.

 

It's a bit of a leap of faith true as Joshua hasn't fought anyone as good as Wlad, or even this old faded version of Wlad. But that was the case with Fury and Wlad and we all saw how that played out.

Now Joshua clearly can't fight like Fury did, he doesn't have the movement or size advantage Fury had over Wlad. But Wlad is 40, he looked bad against Jennings as well who on my card won 5 rounds. He's also been out of the ring for almost a year.

Wlad is at his best when he can jab and grab. If he can fight his kind of fight then he wins but will he be able to jab and grab Joshua. He has to beat him to the punch, which in his prime when he was quicker and had a better jab he could do, not so sure now. Even if he can do that can he manhandle Joshua like he has against smaller, weaker men. If he can't what does he do?

I think Wlad will clinch a lot in this fight, he doesn't have the size or movement to keep a big man like Joshua at range, so he'll be forced to hold. How Joshua deals with this will decide the fight. If he allows Wlad to clinch him and control the pace of the fight he'll lose, if he can break the clinch or get off first before Wlad clinches then he wins.

 

I suspect that there were "other" factors playing into the reason why (some think) Wladimir looked ordinary in his last two fights. To me, he's still the same guy who all but destroyed Pulev's career in a short affair. I strongly believe that Wladimir is a man rejuvenated. He's always been well-conditioned and dedicated both in and out of the ring, even between fights. The loss to Fury has driven him and his next fight is going to show it.

Current Joshua is missing a few things that Fury had going for him at this point, relatively speaking in terms of their careers. The style match-up against Joshua is much more favorable for Wladimir here. Like Brighton said, if Joshua has no answer for the holding, he'll definitely lose. And like Catchwtboxing has alluded to, there's not much evidence available to suggest that AJ is even ready for this right now.

AJ is "daring to be great" by going after the (at worst) 2nd best fighter in the division (in Wladimir) at a still "green" stage in his career. 17 fights, 17 wins, none gone the distance... but against no one even close to top level yet. Credit to him for putting it all on the line in a sudden -but huge- step up in class. Credit also has to go to Wladimir as well for immediately pursuing his belts back, starting with the one that was literally given to AJ.

For Anthony Joshua, fighting Wladimir now... and winning... would be a way to prove that he legitimately deserves that IBF strap. Can he win? We'll see... if the fight happens. It's just too bad that Fury isn't going to be around to unify with the victor. The HW division would be much, much closer to being sorted out at that point, with Parker and Ortiz knocking on the door for title shots. The only loose end left would be Wilder.

 

Brezeale and Martin are garbage? Sorry didn't you pick them to destroy AJ?

And once again you see absolutely no way for AJ to win but will no doubt still claim he is rubbish if he does happen to win. So predictable.

 

The best thing about these kind of fights is the excuses that come out post fight from people making one sided drubbing predictions either way. There is so many unanswered questions about both fighters at this stage of their career nobody can really predict what will happen with any degree of certainty as much as the people above would like to think they know.

One thing is for sure, if they are wrong, their excuse will not be 'I was wrong'

 

Probably better preparation than Chisora, Abell and Hammer. Worked out alright for Tyson Fury though

 

I favor Wlad but it wouldn't be surprising if AJ knocked him out. I would give AJ 35% chance to win this. Not the favorite in this fight, but a solid chance.

 

Although I think Eddie Hearn needs to start matching his fighters with bums and protect their 0's in fights nobody wants to see like Al Haymon does.

**** Klitschko-AJ, GGG-Brook, Crolla-Linares, bring on Broner-Theophane, Wilder-Arreola, Garcia-Salka

 

Aj destroys him inside 4 rounds

 

Joshua KOs any version of Wlad. Just all wrong for Wlad in every way possible.

This version of Wlad vs Joshua is a complete mismatch. No way Wlad takes this fight, absolutely no way.