By Edward Chaykovsky
On Saturday night, IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (18-0, 18KOs) easily blasted out Eric Molina in three rounds at the Manchester Arena.
Sitting at ringside was his next opponent, former division king Wladimir Klitschko. Their fight is scheduled to take place on April 29th at Wembley.
Joshua vs. Klitschko is going to be one of the biggest boxing events of 2017 - with Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn expecting 80-90,000 fans in the venue.
The fight is viewed as a real changing of the guard kind of fight - the young lion vs. the old lion.
There should have already been a changing of the guard after Tyson Fury upset Klitschko last November in Germany.
Fury never sealed the deal on his victory over Klitschko. He withdrew from two scheduled rematch dates and eventually had a mental breakdown and vacated all of his world titles. Two of those belts, the vacant WBA/IBO titles, will be at stake in Joshua-Klitschko.
Going into this fight in April - there are more questions about Klitschko than Joshua. Klitschko hasn't fought since the loss to Fury. He will be 41-years-old by the time of the Joshua fight. And he looked terrible in his last outing, where he barely threw any punches against Fury.
Klitschko rejects the idea of his age being a factor. He only wants to correct his biggest mistake that led to his first defeat in over 10 years. And that mistake as not punching enough. He vows to let his hands go against Joshua.
"Age is just a number. That's the way I feel right now," Klitschko told Sky Sports News HQ. "Yeah, it's about how I will stand in the ring. I will be 41. Is that an issue? These question marks are actually really great for a lot of people who have doubts.
"The more questions we have before a sporting event - who, where, when and how they are going to win - the better. But age is just a number and I feel great. I hadn't had such a long break as over a year in my 26-year career. So I've had time to recoup, time to cut my guns, and now I just want to shoot and let them go.
"Health is number one but motivation is very important. I'm highly motivated. There is nothing else. I just want to get back and get these titles. I just want to let go the frustration that I've collected being inactive."
