Klitschko tells Joshua: I’ve been at the top for 21 years and I’m still here.. where have all the challengers gone? YOU’VE GOT A MOUNTAIN TO CLIMB
THE snow is disappearing from the imposing Wilder Kaiser mountain, which looks down on Wladimir Klitschko’s idyllic training camp.
White is giving way to green as spring creeps through the Austrian Alps.
Down in the valley, Klitschko is also full of new life, as he trains to face Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium on April 29.
The Ukrainian knows he is being questioned because Tyson Fury and his kryptonite left him looking powerless.
Drawing on the stunning landscape, Klitschko made an analogy between himself and the tallest mountain of them all, Mount Everest, to insist he is still standing.
“Please excuse me, and this may sound arrogant but, for a parallel, take Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world,” said the former world heavyweight king. “It’s there. It’s been there for a long time and will be there for a long time. You can climb it. You can get to the top and say, ‘I conquered Everest!’.
“But Mount Everest is still there. Is Mount Everest defeated? No, it’s still there.
“It was 27 years ago when I started and I’m still here. I have guys who have conquered me at certain periods in my 68 fights. Four of them have made it to the top out of a 21-year professional career.
“But most didn’t and, the most amazing thing is, I’m still here, they’re not.”
Klitschko, 41, deliberately refers to Fury in the past tense and says he is over his shock defeat to him in Dusseldorf, in November 2015.
The irony of their changed circumstances is not lost on him and, instead of him being finished, Fury is the one trying to rebuild his career. “I definitely learned more about myself and about boxing, through that defeat,” Klitschko said. “I don’t feel beaten. I’m sorry. I don’t feel beaten. You might disagree with me. I lost, I didn’t do enough to win. I’m not a destroyed man. “It’s a done deal. The past doesn’t bother me at all. You take it as experience, this failure, you collect it and keep on going. “I don’t think about rematches or anything else because the man destroyed himself. I can’t have the chance to fight him again.” Klitschko’s antipathy for Fury is in contrast to his huge respect for 27-year-old Joshua.
He invited the unbeaten IBF champ over to Stanglwirt to spar with him in 2014, and noted his keenness to learn.
“He impressed me with his attitude,” said the Ukrainian. “He was always in the background learning. Sometimes you just need to be quiet and watch, and he was observing everything.
“He was very athletic and could box. I give him a lot of credit, he has great potential.” Klitschko is wary of Joshua’s destructive power and has three TVs around his ring, showing all the champion’s fights on a loop. Obsessed is the motto of his camp and he is driven to emulate Muhammad Ali by becoming a three-time world heavyweight champion at 41. Only George Foreman has won the world heavyweight title at an older age. “Some guys at my age maybe think of something else, but I’m still here, I’m still on this hamster wheel, turning it, spinning it at my own pace,” he added. “Klitschko reloaded, that’s what you’re going to see.”
Sky Sports Box Office will show Joshua v Klitschko exclusively live on April 29. To book go to www.skysports.com /Joshua.