Why Joshua doesn't have that much of a chance against Klitschko

Got to agree with this, Wlad sucks, sorry guys!

 

The style match up favors Wlad here. He only tends to be troubled by fighters who possess great handspeed, head & upper body movement, and lateral movement. Wladimir hasn't fought too many fighters who possess all three of the previously mentioned attributes in tandem... and he hadn't really faced a single 6'5+ HW who possessed even a moderate degree of any of them... until Fury.

Wladimir has fought other "big" heavies in his career, but what those guys had in common is that they were (almost universally) slow of hand, slow of foot, and stationary. This is why Tyson Fury caused Wlad so much trouble. Look at the canvas situation for the Fury fight -- while it was a dirty gesture for sure, it was certainly not a mistake. That... "tactic" was meant to slow Fury down in the event that he (Fury) had trained for a more (offensively or defensively) mobile approach.

Anthony Joshua is classified as another "big man" at HW. But... he's not that fast or dynamic in terms of handspeed, footwork, or upper body movement. He's powerful and athletic, but also more of a standard "come forward" pugilist. Wladimir has not faced a guy 'quite' like Joshua in his career... but Joshua has not faced a guy anywhere NEAR Wlad's level thus far in his career either. There is a massive gulf in experience between these two. That, and the general style match-up, play heavily in Wladimir Klitschko's favor.

People appear to be counting on an 'old' or diminished Wladimir to show up. I think that is a huge, huge mistake to make. Wladimir is looking to prove something at this point in his career. He has been training like a madman and looks genuinely refreshed leading up to this point. No one is going to beat this "man possessed" version of him without beating him half to death in that ring. You can see how hungry he is in his eyes. Whoever beats Wladimir again is going to have to forcibly "put him into retirement". This is a man who doesn't have to box -- he's financially set already. He intends to take this fight because he believes he's got what it takes to win it.

In my opinion, Wladimir Klitschko clearly has the edge. But there are some intangibles also in play that Tyson Fury exposed. Such as:

-The canvas in the ring being fitted with an extra 4 inches of padding

-The Klitschko camp selecting the opponent's gloves from a manufacturer on their payroll (and sending different pairs that might not even fit)

-The lack of an opposing team member being present to oversee pre-fight handwrapping sessions (both the Jennings and the Fury teams raised issue with this on fight night, but some allege that Pulev's team may not have even had a rep present)

-Having a fair referee present who will admonish excessive holding and carry out disciplinary action to enforce the rules of boxing.

With Joshua being a titlist, we should hope that none of ^this^ underhanded bull**** even becomes a factor working against him. Both fighters should hope for, and expect to receive, a fair contest. At the end of the day, I think that Wladimir's left hook will be the biggest intangible working against Joshua. That's the punch that could cause him some serious problems (Joshua doesn't move his head much at all).

As of this moment today, this fight still hasn't been formally confirmed yet... but it looks like it will be soon. It's a tough ask for AJ to win it considered his past three opponents. Going from the Cornish's, the Martin's, and Breazeale's of the division to arguably the 2nd best HW (at worst) in the division -- one who was also a Super HW Gold medalist... with 60+ professional fights... is a huge ask.

If this inexperienced version of Joshua manages to pull this off, it would prove that he actually deserves that IBF strap that he's wearing. By daring to be great this soon in his career, he's already shown much about his character.

May the best man win.

 

I doubt if Joshua will fight Vlad because Vlad was so superior to Joshua in sparring...................read the fight will be on Dec. 10th, but will not hold my breath waiting............

 

not many posters on esb lay out there reasoning / put the pros and cons behind there thinking / and know what they are talking about.

solid post.