sport news Anthony Joshua says Wladimir Klitschko was his biggest test... and aims to ... trends now
Anthony Joshua has named Wladimir Klitschko as the hardest opponent he has fought and revealed his is aiming to knock out a Ukrainian great again when he seeks revenge against Oleksandr Usyk.
Heavyweight superstar Joshua added Klitschko's WBA (Super) and IBO belts to his IBF title when his spectacular 11th-round knockout consigned the boxing icon to defeat in his final fight.
Since that classic contest at Wembley Stadium in April 2017, when Klitschko knocked Joshua down earlier in the bout, the Londoner has lost the belts twice, regaining them from Andy Ruiz in December 2019 before losing to Usyk in September 2021.
Anthony Joshua (right) and Wladimir Klitschko (centre) traded knockdowns before an epic KO
The British boxing favourite rates Klitschko, who earned 53 knockouts, as his hardest ever test
Klitschko was the most celebrated fighter Joshua has beaten, although he appeared to have far greater problems in his unsuccessful bid to solve the riddle posed by unbeaten Usyk in their cagey showdown at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
'The hardest opponent I have come up against would be Wladimir Klitschko – definitely,' Joshua told an enraptured Oxford Union audience.
'The passing of the guard. The young lion versus the old lion. At the time I fought him, I thought it was definitely too early but it was his last fight.
'So if I didn't fight him then, it would have been too late. It was risk versus reward and I thought boxing needed it.
Oleksandr Usyk was too tricky for Joshua when he won their bout on points in September 2021
'Sometimes, due to a lack of experience, we make it harder than it sometimes needs to be.
'He had definitely more knockouts on his record than I have fights and knockouts combined. He is experienced and very strong and it was a tough fight.
'Before that stage, I was knocking guys out within six rounds and seven rounds. Wladimir took me 11 rounds – somewhere I had never been before. He was my toughest, for sure.'
In the five years since he stunned