IF Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko have been, for the most part, cordial in the build up to their April 29 IBF and WBA heavyweight title fight, civility will all be forgotten as soon as the contest begins.
Rob McCracken, Joshuaโs trainer told Boxing News, โNeither will show each other respect once the bell goes. Once the bell goes itโs a fight and that will be the same for both guys. Itโs a fight Anthonyโs looking forward to. Anthony believes in himself. Heโs young, fit, strong, powerful. Heโs achieved great things in boxing but he wants to achieve more so itโs going to be really interesting and fascinating to be part of it, to see how it all unfolds. AJ will be in great shape on the night. Heโs looking to defend that title.โ
Theyโll have been covering every angle in training. โHeโs very disciplined and dedicated,โ McCracken said of Joshua. โHeโs world champion now, heโs got the Klitschko fight which isnโt going to be easy.
โHeโs young, heโs fresh, heโs sharp. Heโs powerful and obviously heโs intending to defend his title and be successful.โ
McCracken holds Klitschko, the former heavyweight champion of the world, in high regard. He is taking nothing for granted. โWho knows in boxing? I think Klitschkoโs a very good fighter, heโs a former Olympic champion, been hugely successful as a heavyweight, heโs been champion for a decade or so. Can box, can spoil, can punch, very experienced, very tricky. Heโs the opponent and of course you respect him, heโs been a tremendous fighter and he still is. Anthonyโs job is to be professional, switched on and use his ability, use his speed and nullify Klitschko where Klitschko canโt really get going into the contest. Because if you let Klitschko get going and he gets that jab going, he starts pushing and shoving and looking for the right hand, then heโs a real, real handful and difficult hard work.โ
90,000 people at Wembley Stadium will be a remarkable event. But McCracken is familiar with that type of situation. He was in Carl Frochโs corner when Froch beat George Groves at Wembley. โCarl had a great career, did fantastically well and a brilliant night at Wembley, beat a very good fighter in George Groves. Groves will come again, Groves will probably be a world champion. I said that night Groves will probably go on and become a world champion and I still think that he can, heโs a very good fighter. Froch was really good on the night and what a brilliant experience and in fairness what an experience for both the fighters who fought at Wembley, Froch and George Groves. Great experience fighting in front of 80,000 people, gripping the nation at the time, huge experience, Carl was great to work with, fantastic person and great fighter,โ he recalled.
McCracken is not sure yet whether the Ukrainianโs reaction to the Tyson Fury defeat will make him more dangerous. โYou saw Klitschko in the last fight against Tyson Fury, Fury did tremendously well and Klitschko just looked a bit out of sorts and possibly, possibly heโs late in his career and possibly heโs not the force he was. But heโs intending to be the force he was and be re-motivated and maybe the loss is the best thing that happened to him or itโs the worst thing that happened to him. Itโll be one of the two and weโll find out on April 29,” Rob said. “But itโll be a fantastic spectacle, itโll be a great fight and Joshuaโs going in with one of the very best heavyweights in the last 20 or 30 years without a shadow of a doubt.โ