Is Wladimir Klitschko’s 21-Year Career on the Line in Joshua Showdown?

The manager of Wladimir Klitschko may have recently told the media that his protege feels as though he has another few years to give the sport of boxing, but make no mistake about it: his storied career could well be on the line when he takes on Anthony Joshua in their hotly anticipated world heavyweight title clash on April 29.

Klitschko looked well past his best in his last outing, when Briton Tyson Fury ended the Ukrainian’s decade of dominance over boxing’s heavyweight division in November 2015 with a unanimous decision victory. For all of his defiance heading into the Joshua fight, the 41-year-old must recognise the reality of the situation. Those close to him certainly do: this week, his older brother Vitali admitted that a defeat would signal the death knell for his sibling’s 21-year career.
Will In-Ring Experience Play a Part?

With all of that being said, the Wembley showdown is far from being a foregone conclusion. A Klitschko past his prime still represents by far the toughest test of 27-year-old Joshua’s career to date, and the hometown hero will have to be on the top of his game on the night to extend his unbeaten winning streak to 19-0. With the vacant WBA (Super) and IBO heavyweight titles on the line alongside Joshua’s IBF strap, the occasion of the unification tilt is unlikely to get to dogged veteran Klitschko – even with 90,000 partisan fans cheering against him.

Some have suggested “AJ” could become overwhelmed by the weight of expectations on his shoulders heading into the event, but it’s worth remembering that despite only having a three-year professional career, the man did join rare company by tasting Olympic super-heavyweight gold on home soil back in 2012. Not only that, but Joshua has also fought in front of a packed Wembley Stadium crowd before.

Back in May 2014, on the undercard of the hotly anticipated Carl Froch vs. George Groves II, he knocked out British journeyman heavyweight Matt Legg inside the first round. Admittedly, that fight was tucked away early, but it will have proved an invaluable lesson for the then-inexperienced Londoner.

That fight represented the sixth knockout victory of Joshua’s career; in the three years since then, he hasn’t taken a step back, notching up an additional 12 wins – all coming by the way of stoppage. AJ’s solitary scare in the pro ranks came from a crushing counter left courtesy of fellow Briton Dillian Whyte back in December 2015, but the six-foot-six Joshua was able to overcome the adversity in style, turning on his class and eventually dispatching Whyte in the seventh round.

With the Whyte fight representing only one of two Joshua fights to go beyond the third round – his June 2016 IBF heavyweight title tilt with Dominic Breazeale also ended in the seventh – there are those who have questioned whether his endurance has ultimately been tested well enough so far in his career
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Certainly, the experienced Klitschko will fancy his chances a lot more the longer the contest goes, with the strategic boxing brain, patience and jabbing ability of the Ukrainian so frequently delivering the goods in his 64-4 career since his debut back in November 1996. Joshua will be looking to make short work of his opponent this weekend; a view seemingly shared by the bookmakers, with betting comparison site Oddschecker giving the Londoner odds of -212.77 to triumph – compared with Klitschko’s +230.00.
Battle of the Preparation

Certainly, both fighters are coming into the contest with the best possible preparation under their belt. Despite former Klitschko foe David Haye recently claiming the Ukrainian was struggling in his training camp, that appears to be little more than posturing from the now-fringe heavyweight contender. The 41-year-old has been renowned for his exceptional mental preparation and strategy for his largest fights, as well as for following a strict cardio training regime made up of activities such as running and swimming, which also emulate various aspects of the movements required in a boxing ring.

For his part, Joshua focuses a lot on body weight resistance workouts designed to enhance his explosiveness inside the ring, with barbell thrusters and squats being amongst his most favored exercises. At the peak of his training camps, Joshua takes part in three gym sessions and consumes over 4,500 calories per day, under the guidance of nutritionist Mark Ellison. He’s also been known to partake in more unconventional training methods, such as fire cupping therapy and the use of an oxygen mask.
While the two ultimately have very different routines, Klitschko sees many parallels between himself and his younger opponent. In a sitdown interview, the Ukrainian told Sky Sports’ Johnny Nelson that he was preparing to face a carbon copy of himself in many ways – not least in terms of training: “Preparation, camp, altitude training, nutrition. We can name a lot of things. The more I look at it, it’s a copy. Different, but in a certain way it’s a copy.”

The Undercard
While the Joshua-Klitschko clash is the bout that the majority of boxing fans will be eyeing this weekend, the event is also set to play host to an exciting undercard of fights. In the co-headline spot, popular Manchester fighter and former WBA super-bantamweight champion Scott Quigg will face Romanian Viorel Simion in a contest that has been upgraded to an IBF featherweight title eliminator.

While he has faded somewhat into boxing obscurity on the back of his February 2016 split decision loss to fellow Brit Carl Frampton for his WBA crown, the bout represents the perfect opportunity for the 28-year-old to put himself firmly back in the consciousness of the British public, as well as earn a world title shot.

Elsewhere on the card, the woman who is going a long way to put female boxing on the map in Europe, Irish Olympic gold medallist Katie Taylor (4-0), is set to take on fellow undefeated brawler German Nina Meinke (5-0) in a WBA Intercontinental lightweight title; the winner going on to receive a world title shot against current champion Cecilia Comunales.

Fellow Olympic gold medallist Luke Campbell may not quite have achieved the same profile as either Taylor or Joshua to date, but the Hull-based bantamweight is 16-1 since turning pro in July 2013 and set to defend his WBA Silver lightweight title against Darleys Pérez in a curtain-raiser at Wembley. Meanwhile, fellow Team GB boxer Joe Cordina will have his second pro bout in as many weeks, when he takes on Sergej Vib in a super featherweight tilt.

Cementing a Legacy

As they see one boxer’s professional career get firmly underway at Wembley, fans may witness another one’s coming to an end. If Joshua decisively beats Klitschko, it’s hard to see where the Ukrainian could go from here. After all, he has won it all in his illustrious career, and if he were to leave the ring with two successive defeats to his name, surely there would be little call for the 41-year-old to return to the ring.

If, however, he is able to cause something of an upset by taking Joshua the distance – or, even more unlikely, beating him inside it – Klitschko will firmly cement his legacy as one of the greatest heavyweights of all time. For his part, the bout is a must-win for Joshua, with a loss likely to derail the hype train that has surrounded his fledgling career to date.