By Edward Chaykovsky
Promoter Eddie Hearn, who handles IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (18-0, 18 KOs), has noticed the mind games that are starting to play out from veteran Wladimir Klitschko.
Uncharacteristically, Klitschko took to social media and fired a few jabs in the direction of Joshua, who stated in a recent interview with GQ that he aspired to become boxing's first billionaire.
"On April 29th I'm going to fight a wannabe billionaire. Fellas, how many wannabe billionaires did you fight in your life? I've [fought] none. How many of you 90.000 that night at Wembley and millions around the world are billionaires? Ok, ok, calm down folks you're not alone, I definitely represent the majority of you! From now on the nickname was made - 'Mr.Billionaire.' You've got to love AJ's ambitions," Klitschko stated.
Klitschko and Joshua will collide on April 29th, before a record crowd of 90,000 fans at Wembley. The vacant WBA, IBO titles will also be at stake.
For Klitschko, the fight is a make or break showdown. At 41-years-old and coming off his first defeat in over ten years, he's desperate to get the win. Klitschko has been inactive since suffering a twelve round decision loss at the hands of Tyson Fury in November 2015.
"With just a fortnight to go until the biggest fight in British boxing history, Wladimir Klitschko has began to crank up the mind games ahead of his multi-belt clash with Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium," Hearn told Daily Mail.
"The heavyweight legend sent out a string of tweets at the weekend following a magazine question asking Joshua if he thought he could become the sport’s first billionaire. I really feel that Klitschko will turn up the heat on AJ on fight week and do all he can to get in his mind. This is an absolute must-win for Klitschko and the mental lessons learned from the Fury fight may spur him to try and unsettle Anthony.
"I watched Anthony spar 14 rounds last week with three different sparring partners. He is in a brilliant frame of mind and although this fight makes me extremely nervous, I am so excited to watch this all unfold."
