By Keith Idec
Wladimir Klitschko clearly is a more experienced, skillful fighter than Anthony Joshua.
Deontay Wilder still thinks Joshua has “a great chance” to beat Klitschko on Saturday in London for the same reason Wilder wins his fights. Even though Klitschko can punch, too, Wilder considers Joshua’s power the ultimate equalizer in their 12-round fight for Joshua’s IBF heavyweight title and the vacant WBA and IBO titles.
“Joshua, he got the height and he got the power,” Wilder said on conference call Monday to discuss the Joshua-Klitschko fight. “And in the heavyweight division, you don’t need skills. [When assessing] the heavyweight division, you’ve gotta eliminate skills. Even myself, I don’t need skills. As long as I have the power, and that’s what makes up the heavyweight division, I’m in the game. You in the game once you got that power, you got that equalizer that no matter what, at any given time it can be gone. Maybe nobody don’t have it to the certain extent that I have, because I can get you out of there any time. But Joshua does have a little power.”
The 31-year-old Wilder (38-0, 37 KOs) has drawn criticism for his fundamental flaws, but the WBC heavyweight champion from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, has knocked out 97 percent of his opponents since making his pro debut in November 2008. England’s Joshua, 27, isn’t exactly a textbook technician, either, but the knockout artist from suburban London has knocked out each of his 18 professional foes, won the IBF championship in just his 16th fight and is a 2-1 favorite over Ukraine’s Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs).
The 2012 Olympic gold medalist’s power already has made him a superstar in the United Kingdom, despite that he hasn’t beaten an elite heavyweight. A crowd of roughly 90,000 will attend the Joshua-Klitschko fight at a sold-out Wembley Stadium, where Wilder will serve as an analyst for Sky Sports’ coverage of boxing’s biggest heavyweight fight since Lennox Lewis-Mike Tyson in June 2002.
“They’re gonna have to play sword fight for a little bit to feel each other out,” Wilder said. “If Joshua wants to be successful, he definitely gonna have to move and take angles and be smart with Klitschko because Klitschko is very smart. He’s been around the block. He’s got an excellent jab and he’s trying to set you up. His smartness is gonna play into this a lot. But Joshua’s not flexible, though. He’s definitely not super athletic. He don’t have that much coordination because of the stiffness of himself. But he definitely got a great chance in this fight and I’ll love to see what happens.”
Showtime’s live coverage of Joshua-Klitschko will begin at 4:15 p.m. ET/1:15 p.m. PT. HBO will replay the fight at 11 p.m. ET/PT.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
