The King is Dead, Long Live the King: A Klitschko v Joshua Retrospective

"Those punches came from the depths of his soul."
- BBC Radio 5 live boxing commentator Ronald McIntosh

Whilst the young King Anthony Joshua remains a perfect 19-0 and as yet to go before the judges, he did avail hisself, but too show his reign shall begin in the form of on-the-job learnings atop his throne. Meanwhile, the former King Wladimir Klitschko, in showing the training still needed on Joshua's part, went out in truly noble fashion. This was no Mike Tyson trouncing a sad Larry Holmes.

What this was was a glorious and long-awaited rebuttal to Bert Sugar's “The heavyweight division is on the cusp of being called off for lack of interest, ... A hundred years ago boxing was one of the top three sports in the country. Now it's charitably twelfth on the list of top 10 sports. Therein lies its biggest problem. People have so many things to consider in the world of sports that it takes a major fighter to capture their attention.”

Attention: captured, gentlepersons.

Before a frenzied 90,000 coronation goers at London's famed Wembley Stadium, Mr. Joshua scored a pair of knockdowns in the 11th stanza to end a quite still worthy Klitschko (64-5, 53 KOs) via ref stoppage in a bout that marked the former champion Dr. Steelhammer's return after losing his physical crown 17 months ago to a now all but disappeared Mr. Tyson Fury.

In the sixth stanza, Klitschko was quick with his left jab, then a straight right, and finally a short left hook to send Joshua tumbling to the canvas. From then till the 11th, the good doctor used Joshua's lack of lateral and head movements to control distance and close off the ring. It was all going as I doth foresaw and whilst it felt nice to be right, it feels great to be wrong.

"Both fighters gave their best. The best man won tonight, and it's amazing event for boxing," Klitschko said later.

I'll gladly eat my Humble Pie, says I. The 11th emblazoned upon my brain as unfurling as slowly as a decade of dominance falling away and a new dawn rising over the mountains.

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