Britain’s Joshua stops Klitschko
LONDON (AP): ANTHONY JOSHUA survived the first knockdown of his young career, coming back to drop Wladimir Klitschko twice before stopping him in the 11th round on Saturday night to retain his heavyweight titles and stake his claim as the boxing’s next star.
Before a boisterous crowd of 90,000 at Wembley Stadium, Joshua, 27, and Klitschko, 41, traded huge punches in a spectacular fifth round and again in the sixth before Joshua finally found a way to finish the long-time former champion late in the fight.
RIGHT UPPERCUT
The biggest heavyweight fight in more than a decade had something for everyone, but in the end, it was Joshua who announced himself as the future of the division. He finally turned things around for good with a right uppercut early in the 11th round that spun Klitschko’s head around.
He was all over the Ukrainian and dropped him with a left hook, but Klitschko got up only to take even more punishment. Joshua knocked Klitschko down again and was landing punches to his head on the ropes when referee David Fields moved in to stop the bout late in the 11th round.
“When you go to the trenches, that’s when you find out who you really are,” Joshua said. “In this small little ring here, there’s nowhere to hide.”
The fight was stopped at 2:25 of the 11th. Joshua was up 96-93 and 95-93 on two scorecards, while Klitschko was ahead, 95-93, on the third. The Associated Press had it 9494 going into the final round. British boxer Anthony Joshua (right) punishing Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko during their heavyweight title fight for Joshua’s IBF and the vacant WBA Super World and IBO heavyweight titles.