According to promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport, there was a near brawl last month between IBF, IBO, WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and retired former beltholder Vitali Klitschko - in the aftermath of younger brother Wladimir Klitschko's stoppage loss to Joshua before a record crowd of 90,000 at Wembley.
Apparently, Joshua and Vitali had words when Joshua came over to speak to Wladimir when the contest concluded.
"Once he’s in that mode, he’s a nasty, horrible man in that ring. Outside the ring, one of the nicest guys you could meet, inside it – horrible. He and Vitali nearly came to blows after the fight. He went over to Wladimir and thanked him and Josh was tired and he went on and on, ‘seriously man,’ talking about the fight, and Vitali was like ‘alright, alright’ [Hearn stretches his arm across as if pushing someone away] and Josh was like ‘f*** you.’ But Vitali can handle himself, he’s not exactly a pushover," Hearn told Boxing News.
Wladimir was down in the fifth round of the fight, but not before he came back to drop Joshua had in the sixth.
Wladimir controlled the later rounds of the fight, until Joshua got a second wind in the championship rounds - which led him to drop Klitschko two more times in the eleventh round before the referee waved off the contest as Joshua was unloading on Wlaidmir against the ropes.
There is a rematch clause in place and Wladimir has hinted at the possibility of exercising that option. If the rematch takes place, it would happen on a date in October or November.
Joshua is also under order for two mandatory defenses. Under the IBF, there is a mandatory defense that his owed to Kubrat Pulev of Bulgaria and that fight has already been ordered, and then there is the WBA's mandatory which is owed to Cuban puncher Luis Ortiz.