Klitschko Wasn’t ‘Sitting on Couch, Drinking Beer’ During Layoff

By Keith Idec

NEW YORK – This 17-month break between boxing matches will amount to the longest layoff of Wladimir Klitschko’s 20-year pro boxing career.

Inactivity can become even more troublesome for older boxers, but the 40-year-old former heavyweight champion doesn’t think this lengthy layoff will impact his performance against Anthony Joshua. Klitschko’s shot at Joshua, scheduled for April 29 at Wembley Stadium in London, will mark the Ukrainian’s first fight since he lost three heavyweight titles to England’s Tyson Fury in a November 2015 bout in Dusseldorf, Germany.

The 6-feet-6, 245-pound Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs) expects to be sharp in what figures to be a very challenging encounter with the 6-6, 250-pound Joshua (18-0, 18 KOs) largely because he spent a significant portion of 2016 training for his doomed rematch with Fury.

“Maybe I was not performing in the ring, but I was training and preparing twice for my rematch [with Fury] in the past year,” Klitschko said following a press conference Tuesday at Madison Square Garden to promote the Joshua showdown. “So I was not just sitting on the couch, drinking beer, watching fights.”

The Klitschko-Fury rematch initially was scheduled for July 9 in Manchester, England. Less than three weeks before the fight, it was postponed, reportedly because Fury suffered a foot injury while doing roadwork.

Their second fight was rescheduled for October 29, again at Manchester Arena. The rematch was canceled late in September because Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) gave up his WBA, IBO and WBO titles to seek treatment for alcoholism, drug addiction and depression.

Klitschko, who’ll turn 41 on March 25, then turned his focus toward Joshua, an emerging superstar who won the IBF heavyweight title from American Charles Martin (23-1-1, 21 KOs) on April 9 at O2 Arena in London. Their fight officially was announced December 10, in the ring after Joshua knocked out American Eric Molina (25-4, 19 KOs) in the third round at Manchester Arena.

Klitschko will start an eight-week training camp soon. His camp will be split between Ukraine and Austria.

“I really enjoyed my break,” Klitschko said. “To look back, I really enjoyed it. It was the first time in 25 years, 26 years now. So I think it was good. I had time to recoup. This is the longest time [I’ve been off] since I started fighting [as an amateur].”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.