Most fight fans agree the upcoming April clash between young champ Anthony Joshua and “old” ex-champ Wladimir Klitschko is pretty much a 50-50 fight; certainly a tough one to pick a winner from. Fans also hope the Wembley mega-event that has smashed all previous ticket sales in the UK is a great fight.
One man who believes it will be “explosive” and “will not last too long,” is Klitschko’s co-trainer James Ali Bashir. Bashir in speaking with BaylorIC TV, said that “someone is getting knocked out” on April 29.
“Wladimir Klitschko will be very well prepared when he comes into the ring. He’s always coming to fight at 100 percent readiness,” Bashir stated. “Anthony Joshua is a large, young, strong active fighter with a very strong punch. Joshua will be a very serious fight. In the ring, you will have two large, well-trained punchers. Someone is going to get knocked out.”
Joshua is of course 18-0(18) and he has yet to go beyond the 7th-round. Klitschko is 64-4(53) and he has shown in the past that he can stop a guy early or late on in a fight. But just who will get KO’d in April? According to Bashir, we do not yet know if Joshua has a good chin or not.
“We do not know how strong Joshua’s chin is. But Wladimir does not have a weak chin, as some say,” Bashir continued. “Sam Peter put him down three times, and each time Wladimir got up and won the fight. And Peter – this is one of the most powerful punchers in the heavyweight division in the last 15 to 20 years. Wladimir is going to shock everyone. I expect an incredible fight. I don’t think it will be long, but it will definitely be an explosive fight. One of these guys will get knocked out.”
Klitschko, who will turn 41 in March, has not been involved in an explosive fight for quite some time, and the Peter fight Bashir talks about took place an eternity ago. But Bashir is definitely right when he says we do not yet know about the strength of A.J’s chin; even if we do know all about his punching power. Could this fight surprise us all and come down to who lands a bomb first? Certainly, Klitschko will have to let his hands go far more than he did in his losing fight to Tyson Fury.
A great, explosive fight would be just what the heavyweight division could do with from such a high profile fight. Let’s hope Bashir is correct and both men deliver in style at the end of April.
