Rumors of Joshua vs Klitschko at Wembley Stadium for an April 29th date in 2017 surfaced over the weekend, as IBF champion Joshua readies himself for his latest challenge on December 10th.
Joshua must first come through American Eric Molina on December 10th at the Manchester Arena, but should he do so, The Sun have reported that a Wembley stadium date has been pencilled in for a showdown with former long reigning champion Wladimir Klitschko.
A Week Today! Can’t Wait To See You All #AJBoxing ? pic.twitter.com/RhkGnVYJ97
— Anthony Joshua (@anthonyfjoshua) December 3, 2016
He is expected to the win next week against Molina, so it’s almost impossible not to look ahead to the Klitschko fight. But who wins?
It’s a tough one.
On skillset alone, part of me leans heavily towards Klitschko as the vastly more experienced man but then another part of me thinks he is now 40 years of age, has not competed in well over 12 months (when he lost to Tyson Fury) and that time waits for no man.
It is unclear if he will take a tuneup fight before the speculated April date above, but one would imagine there would not be enough time to do so given his current healing process to also account for – due to a minor injury recently.
Klitschko and his team must be thinking that he still has more than enough to take care of IBF champion Joshua, but likewise can be said if the Britain’s team, most likely spotting a decline in the man from the Ukraine in his fight with Tyson Fury.
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Stylistically you’d have to say Wladimir is the more safety first fighter of the two, opting to stay behind his long range jab and fire off one-two combinations when feeling comfortable to do so.
Other than his win over Dillian Whyte, we have not really seen Joshua in there with anyone ever remotely near Klitschko’s level, which Whyte is not at this stage of his career course, but still represents Joshua’s biggest test to date.
There is the school of thought that Joshua’s life force, youth, power and possibly slight speed advantage is what he and his backers are banking on.
It’s an intriguing one and if it does take place at Wembley and sells over 80,000 tickets for a boxing match, it can only be a positive fight for the sport in 2017.
