Anthony Joshua dug deep and put away Wladimir Klitschko in the 11th round to retain his IBF heavyweight crown in front of 90,000 at Wembley in London. It was Britain’s largest attendance for a boxing event since 1939.
The 41-year-old Klitschko was down on the canvas in round five before sending Joshua to the mat for the first time in his career in round six.
Joshua, 27, fought back and dropped Klitschko twice with an uppercut and left hook combination before a flurry of punches in the corner gave the referee no choice but to stop the fight in the penultimate round and declare Joshua the undefeated WBA, IBO and IBF heavyweight world champion.
The fight matched two Olympic gold medalists (Klitschko 1996, Joshua 2012) who both stand 6-foot-6 and have impressive knockout records. Klitschko, who lost his title in his last fight, was trying to become a three-time champion at the age of 41 against Joshua, who had until Saturday fought only 18 times but had 18 knockouts.
Joshua – the London 2012 Olympic gold medallist who was born in England to Nigeria-born parents – had never been beyond seven rounds, Klitschko has fought 12 rounds nine times.
The Ukrainian was last seen in a ring in November 2015 when he was outboxed in a defeat by Joshua’s burly compatriot Tyson Fury, ending his nine-and-a-half-year reign as champion.
Joshua admits it was tough to overcome the tough sixth round, and remained content to survive until the dramatic 11th round, when he put Klitschko down with an equally big uppercut, before stopping him on his feet after a further knockdown.
"I just said to my coach, 'I took a round off, am getting my breath back and I'm going to bounce back'," Joshua said. "I tried to take him out. When I hurt someone I know I can get them. I know I can get them, so I'm searching, and 'Boom', they were just skimming his face.
"It does take a lot of energy to hit someone hard and hurt them, so I was just fighting too eagerly. I used a lot of energy, so what I did was try to recover, so I could step up again in the late rounds, and that was kind of the gameplan.
"I was definitely tired, but I knew that I could recover and bounce straight back. If you get knocked down eight times you get up nine. That's what life's about."