This was one of the most hyped clashes in recent memory but it delivered – and then some. Anthony Joshua looked like he had won it, then he looked like he had lost it, but somehow he battled back to stop Wladimir Klitschko in the 11th round of a thriller in front of 90,000 fans at Wembley Stadium.
The defending IBF champion added the WBA belt to his glittering CV but this was about more than belts. This was proving who the king of the heavyweight division is and it was the young lion that prevailed. Not without the almightiest of scares though. Joshua floored Klitschko in the fifth and looked like he was one punch away from an early victory.
But he hit the canvas in the following round and looked out on his feet when he beat the referee’s count. It took him two full rounds to recover before he found his rhythm again and then he ended it in the 11th.
Klitschko, who had been down twice already in the round, was being peppered with huge shots in the corner before referee David Fields called it off. Joshua spoke before the fight about how he used to travel to Wembley to scour the markets for fake clothes to impress his mates. That was before he found boxing and the riches it would bring to him.
Joshua reached the pinnacle of the amateur game by winning the London 2012 Olympics at super-heavyweight and now he is top of the sport as a professional. Joshua won the world title shot when he flattened the hopeless Charles Martin in his 16th fight to claim the IBF belt just over a year ago.
For this night it was the boxing Mecca though as eyes from 140 different countries looked on as for once the old saying of “and the millions watching around the world” was not just hyperbole.
The British boxing fans backing their man, added to the hunger for some to witness a significant heavyweight world title fight, made for a fever pitch atmosphere inside the ground. Both men knew they were taking home £15m each no matter what, but only one could take the IBF and WBA belts home as well as the title of the best heavyweight on the planet.
Fury will argue that is still him, but until he returns to action then the winner of this will hold on to the crown. The former heavyweight champion must have been watching somewhere with envy as he knows his talent deserves to be on a stage like this but his personal problems have led him astray.
When Joshua was rocking he must have been feeling pretty smug.
