True Wembley classic
® to give drug-testing officials his sample. “I haven’t seen her yet but we FaceTimed, straight away in the dressing room,” said Joshua. “I was getting my drug test at the time after the fight. “My son JJ was with my mum while the fight was going on. I was speaking to my son who is 18 months and I could see he was looking at my eye and went, ‘Wow’.” Joshua sat chatting with his team into the early hours when he got back to the plush rented house he stayed at for fight week, before a lie-in until yesterday afternoon. It was a deserved rest. Boxing has a bad habit of failing to deliver after all the pre-fight hype and the build-up to this was almost sickly even amid the respect. But the bout didn’t disappoint in a venue synonymous with memorable sporting events. The walls at Wembley are lined with pictures depicting those great events from the 1966 World Cup final to more recent European Cup finals and the annual domestic trophies. This fight will join them as one of the best nights ever seen at Wembley. It had an atmosphere to match with 90,000 fans playing their part in the spectacle while a record pay-per-view audience watched at home. After a tentative opening, a fifth round that will live long in the memory sparked the fire that would burn through the rest of the fight as Klitschko hit the deck when Joshua cracked through with a right and a left hook. The Ukrainian, at 41, was back on his feet and somehow by the end of the round peppering Joshua with shots as the Watford-born basher looked out on his feet.
The London 2012 gold medallist was off his feet in the sixth thanks to a perfect right hand that landed clean on his temple and the script for the supposed anointment of the new heavyweight king was set to be torn up.
Wembley held its breath, but the 6ft 6in man mountain slowly rose to his feet, shrewdly checking his legs would hold his massive frame, before he stood up straight and matched Klitschko’s powers of recovery.
“Without that character and ability to go into the trenches, you’re never going to do great things in the sport,” said Joshua. “I don’t want to crumble, I will do whatever I need to come out on top.”
Knockdown
The next two rounds were back to Klitschko controlling the pace and Joshua, even though he was still recovering from his sixth-round knockdown, was constantly telling Klitschko he would “whoop his a**e”.
It would be the 11th when that whooping arrived as a huge right uppercut shot Klitschko’s head up in the air before a barrage of shots floored him not once but twice. Another pummelling forced referee David Fields to end it.
Was this the same Klitschko that was brilliantly outfoxed by Tyson Fury 16 months ago or was that night in Dusseldorf just a poor performance from him?
Joshua shouldn’t have to deal with the shadow of Fury as he remains well out of the picture for now.
“I can knock out anyone,” he added in a clear warning to Fury, WBC champion Deontay Wilder and WBO title holder Joseph Parker.
A still unbeaten and exhausted Joshua stood on the ropes and took the acclaim after handing two-time champ Klitschko his fifth defeat in 69 bouts.
He is the reigning king of the heavyweights for now.
And while he showed plenty of flaws in this enthralling contest, surely he will only be better for it too.