Klitschko vs. Joshua Exactly What the Heavyweight Division Needs Right Now
The heavyweight division is once again in a state of flux.
Tyson Fury, the division’s reigning kingpin (for the time being, at least) who scored one of the bigger upsets in the recent history of the division by unseating long-reigning champ Wladimir Klitschko last November, is AWOL.
A narrative is circulating about his mental health after an interview iFL TV conducted with his uncle and trainer, Peter Fury (h/t Nick Ames of the Guardian), and when or if he’ll be able to return to the fray after he withdrew from a contracted rematch with Klitschko for the second time last week.
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It’s not like boxing fans were really jazzed up about the rematch of a 12-round snoozefest that saw one man do almost nothing and the other do just a bit more than nothing to lift the titles in one of the worst fights ever.
Fury’s unexplained exit stage left has created both instability and opportunity at the top of the dominion of the big men. It’s also created an unexpected opening for a true crossroads fight between the future and the past of the division.
Dan Rafael of ESPN.com reported on Monday that a showdown between Klitschko and IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua has become a possibility with Fury out of the picture.
Eddie Hearn, who represents Joshua, and Bernd Boente, the former champ’s manager, are both interested in staging the fight November 26 at the Manchester Arena in England.
It would be a huge fight, and it’s one that makes a lot of sense for both fighters and the division.
Joshua is already penciled in to defend his IBF belt on that date (against an opponent currently listed as TBA), and Klitschko was set to battle Fury at the same arena late in October before the bout was scrapped.
The bout has already cleared one significant obstacle, per Boxing Scene.
Boente claims that Klitschko’s side has already agreed to the financial terms with Hearn and is hoping that the bout can move forward. Obviously, there are still significant hurdles that would need to be cleared before a fight can be finalized.
The WBO has ordered Fury to provide a detailed update on his medical status or risk being stripped of the organization’s title, per another Rafael story on ESPN.com. The WBA hasn’t weighed in on the situation yet, but with the way it hands out title belts, it wouldn’t be a shock to see the organization jump at the opportunity to throw another into the mix.
Rafael speculates that Klitschko could be reluctant to pull the trigger because an opportunity to fight for belts vacated by Fury (assuming one or both sanctioning bodies strip him) could be in the offing.
Television networks could also provide another level of complication.
Joshua’s primary television outlet is Sky Sports in the United Kingdom. But Showtime scored something of a mini-coup when it was able to ink the budding star to a multi-fight deal in May before his first title defense.
His seventh-round stoppage of Dominic Breazeale in June was the first fight of that deal.
Klitschko’s American television partner is HBO. It televised the first Fury fight and was due to handle the production of the rematch. Like Joshua, his primary network isn’t based in America. Those duties are handled by RTL in Germany where he lives and has spent much of his career.
Boxing fans should hope that none of these issues proves to be the sticky wicket that keeps the fight from getting off the ground.
The storylines write themselves.
Joshua is a stud.
He’s an Olympic gold medalist with a loyal fan following that seems to grow by the minute.
Not one of the 17 men who have stepped in with him since he jumped from the 2012 Summer Olympics in London to the professional ranks has heard the final bell. He’s (to quote Seth Rollins of the WWE) the undisputed future of heavyweight boxing.
Klitschko represents the past of the division.
He’s clearly not the fighter that spent the better part of a decade battering whatever hapless saps who happened to earn mandatory spots for one of the many belts he trotted around the globe.
Father Time might have finally showed up to settle the tab in his fight with Fury last fall.
But he’s still a revered name who has secured his place in heavyweight boxing lore.
You can debate all day and night about the era in which he fought, but there is no doubt that Dr. Steelhammer will go down as one of the greatest big men in the history of the sport.
A win over a top young fighter would be yet another feather in his cap.
And that makes him a potentially huge scalp for Joshua. It would be the biggest win of his career. Something to hang on his wall, if hunting metaphors are your cup of tea.
The stakes are huge for both men, and those are the type of fights the sport needs right now.
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