Wladimir Klitschko was 41 years old and had already been through the gears, so to speak, by the time he climbed into the ring – for one of the first times as an underdog – with ascendant star Anthony Joshua.
Controversial only in style, the Kazakh-born Ukrainian Klitschko had previously emerged as a dominant heavyweight champion and a stand-alone attraction almost in spite of himself. A sculpted, 6ft 6ins, with an 81ins reach and a piledriver jab, “Dr. Steelhammer” appeared on the surface to have been built in a lab – an Ivan Drago-like figure come to life.
After laying to waste his early competition with 24 wins out of the gate, however, Klitschko was proven all too human in a handful of ignominious moments and defeats, thereafter labeled with boxing’s dirtiest C-word: chinny. Even after rebuilding himself and tearing off 22 wins in a row, including 15 consecutive title defenses – the most by any heavyweight in history not named Joe Louis or Larry Holmes – he was saddled with yet another accursed reputation: boring. Still, although deemed too cautious and “robotic” by his critics, Klitschko had irrefutably cemented his status as the most successful heavyweight of his era by the time he and Joshua clashed.
Their meeting was one of the earliest masterstrokes of Matchroom’s young boss Eddie Hearn – though it also required a healthy dose of serendipity. Klitschko, whose long string of title defenses was halted by Tyson Fury in November 2015, burned to reacquire his belts. But two dates for a rematch had fallen through, and after Fury retired (for the first time) and gave up his titles, sanctioning body machinations and an injury further derailed Klitschko’s quest.
But Hearn had been on the case since Fury bailed on a Klitschko rematch the second time, and after wooing Klitschko’s side and working the WBA to sanction the bout, it was finally agreed that Klitschko would fight Joshua if AJ were to get through Eric Molina in a December 2016 fight in Manchester. When that came to pass, Klitschko was called into the ring with AJ by Hearn right then and there to begin promotion of their blockbuster, set for April 29, 2017 at London’s Wembley Stadium.
The lead-up was befitting the personalities of both men: understated and respectful. Joshua, by then a 27-year-old former Olympic gold medalist, an 18-0 heavyweight titlist and Britain’s great heavyweight hope, was deferential but confident: "He's a good man, a great man,” Joshua said of Klitschko to ESPN. “I would definitely take inspiration from him outside of boxing, but in the ring you have to be your own man.
"There's a lot of respect between us, which is different these days.”
Klitschko, meanwhile, fully understood the moment, as well as his place within it. Joshua, at 6ft 6ins and a statuesque 250lbs, was one of the few heavyweights with the frame and fitness to match his own. He would have no obvious physical edge in their matchup. Klitschko ruminated that he had been boxing for as long as Joshua had been alive, yet he was neither offended nor cowed by his status as a challenger or underdog: “I don’t think so,” he said. “I think it’s great.” He had no reserves left for pretense. Klitschko was consumed with winning back his belts.
“Obsession is love in extreme shape,” he said. “I’m in love with my goal.”
Neither fighter exuded nearly so much passion in the early rounds of the fight, though, as both men lumbered and leered warily, rarely engaging in meaningful action. A reported Wembley crowd of 90,000 – matching the English record set by Len Harvey-Jock McAvoy in 1939 – hung on every footfall and feint, and when it was the Londoner Joshua who broke the seal in the fifth, they were every one alight and the fight was on.
Joshua sent several jabs and right hands through and around Klitschko’s guard at the start of the round to send a wave of anticipation through Wembley, and when Joshua connected with a three-punch combination – highlighted by a wicked left hook – Klitschko crumbled forward to the canvas.
But the old champion wasn’t finished. Klitschko, though bleeding from a cut over his left eye, quickly bounced to his feet, fended off Joshua’s initial follow-up, then went on the attack. AJ suddenly looked like a fighter holding a pair of anvils. Klitschko landed a jab. A big right hand. An uppercut. Joshua bounced off the ropes, gulped deep breaths through an open mouth and sagged at the shoulders. The bell to end the fifth may have been his salvation.
Things went from bad to worse for AJ in the sixth, when he appeared ragged from the start, lost his gumshield and then was leveled by a Klitschko lead right hand. He rose slowly, and for a moment his day – and his undefeated record – appeared to have been ended. But Joshua channeled a second wind, clutching where he could, rolling off punches as needed and moving his feet just enough to convince Klitschko he wasn’t ready to go. It was a critical mistake.
In the moment, trainer Jonathan Banks pleaded with Klitschko to finish Joshua. But Klitschko’s brother, Vitali – himself a former formidable heavyweight titleholder – advised caution from his corner. Wladimir sized up Joshua, threw several calculated shots, but never went all in to send AJ home early and capture those belts he coveted. Later, cutman Jacob “Stitch” Duran would tell Sky Sports, "If Wladimir had five per cent more energy, he would have finished the fight. Joshua was one shot away from being knocked out." Instead, Joshua survived the round.
The next several rounds unfolded as the fight’s first few had – guardedly – until, again, it was Joshua who made something happen. He had never fought past a seventh round, but in the 10th, Joshua had not only shaken off the effects of his knockdown, he exhibited a spring in his step that Klitschko lacked. He even absorbed the worse of an exchange of right hands between the fighters. As the bell sounded for the 11th, the fighters went directly at each other from their corners, and it was a blistering right hand from Joshua to his opponent’s temple that began to turn the fight.
Klitschko was in quiet retreat – not hurt, exactly, but not fully engaged – and AJ was on the hunt. But here, Joshua took his time. He sought his opening, conserving energy, and when an embolden Klitschko stepped in, Joshua countered with a sharp left hook. They tangled briefly, and as Klitschko attempted to land something in close quarters, Joshua pivoted, reached low and brought back an uppercut from the netherworld.
It was impossible to gauge which was more impressive – the punch or the fact that Klitschko stayed on his feet. Joshua addressed the latter issue promptly, attacking with a left-right combination that, finally, bowled over Klitschko in a corner. He rose, wobbly, and when referee David Fields allowed action to resume, it all belonged to Joshua. A straight right hand upstairs sent Klitschko backward. An overhand right had him reeling against the ropes. Two more punches landed to the chin were followed by a sweeping left hook that sent him tumbling.
Fields gave Klitschko every benefit of the doubt, allowing the former champion to amble to his shaky feet and continue. But he had nothing left to offer. Joshua pressed, pinned Klitschko in a corner, then chopped wood until Fields intervened to make the ending official.
To this day, it remains Joshua’s crowning achievement – scraping himself off the canvas, venturing into deeper-than-ever waters and defeating the previous generation’s greatest heavyweight in 2017’s Fight of the Year. Even Klitschko’s side could only marvel at the enormity of the event and both fighters’ will to honor it.
As Banks later told Sky Sports: "If I were in Joe Frazier's corner for the ‘Thrilla in Manila,’ would I be upset that we lost? Or enthused to be a part of such a historic event?
"I loved how Wladimir fought. He performed better in that fight than most people thought he had in his entire career.”
There was nothing boring about Klitschko’s performance. He fought valiantly, nearly stopping Joshua, while absorbing shots over 11 rounds that would have sooner dropped water buffaloes. On his final night in the ring, Klitschko – 69 professional fights in, at age 41, battled like a young buck and showed the mental and physical resolve he had rarely been credited for as champion.
“I don't feel as someone who lost. Tonight, we all won,” Klitschko said. “Even if I didn't get the belts, I don't feel that I lost, in my name, my face, my reputation. I definitely gained, even if the result was not on my side."
Jason Langendorf is the former Boxing Editor of ESPN.com, was a contributor to Ringside Seat and the Queensberry Rules, and has written about boxing for Vice, The Guardian, Sun-Times and other publications. A member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, he can be found at LinkedIn and followed on X and Bluesky.
