Joshua still the champ
Newest star runs record to 19-0 after stopping Ukrainian in 11th
Anthony Joshua stops Wladimir Klitschko in 11th round in London.
LONDON — Anthony Joshua wasn’t wrong when he raised his hands in victory after knocking down Wladimir Klitschko in the fifth round of what looked like a one-sided heavyweight title fight. He was just celebrating too early.
The rookie mistake allowed Klitschko to rally, nearly taking the lead as the two 6-foot-6 men went to the 11th round — four rounds longer than any Joshua fight had ever gone. That’s when Joshua unleashed a brutal uppercut that spun Klitschko around, leading to a win that set off British celebrations in Wembley Stadium and beyond Saturday night and cemented Joshua, 27, as boxing’s new superstar.
Rounds 5 and 6 featured some of the best heavyweight action since Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis — the latter two sitting ringside — ruled the division.
Klitschko who had barely thrown any power punches before the knockdown, came back to make the end of the fifth round interesting and knocked down Joshua in the next round.
With an entire country screaming for him, Joshua — who had knocked out all of his previous opponents out by the end of the seventh round — looked tired. But he saved his best for the late rounds, particularly the uppercut that will be a YouTube moment for decades.
Klitschko didn’t fall down after the uppercut, but Joshua was all over the stunned former champ and dropped him with a left hook. Klitschko got up only to take even more punishment. Joshua knocked down Klitschko again and was landing punches to his head on the ropes when referee David Fields moved in to stop the bout late in the 11th round.
“When you go to the trenches, that’s when you find out who you really are,” Joshua said. “In this small little ring here, there’s nowhere to hide.”
The biggest heavyweight title fight in more than a decade had a little something for everyone, and Joshua finished off in style.
“As I said from the getgo, it will be a boxing classic and the best man will win,” Joshua said.
Klitschko’s rally was inspiring, starting soon after he was knocked down in the fifth. By the end of the round, it was Klitschko pummeling a tired Joshua.
Joshua was still feeling the effect of those punches when he was dropped by a right hand in the sixth round. Klitschko (64-5) began piling up rounds and it seemed like the savvy Ukrainian would quiet the hometown fans, until Joshua (19-0) turned things around with that vicious right uppercut.
“If you don’t take part, you’re going to fail,” Joshua said. “Just give it a go and you never know the outcome.”
Joshua was up, 96-93 and 95-93, on two scorecards, while Klitschko was ahead, 95-93, on the third going into the final round. The Associated Press had it, 9494.