Here Are All The Amazing Highlights Of Anthony Joshua’s Knockout Win Over Wladimir Klitschko

The biggest heavyweight fight in over a decade lived up to the hype as Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko put on a show for the ages in Wembley Stadium in London. In the end, it was the rising star in Joshua that defeated the legend Klitschko by way of an 11th round TKO after a pair of knockdowns forced the referee to step in and call a stop to the action. Joshua successfully defended his IBF heavyweight title with the win and also picked up the vacant WBA and IBO belts in the process as well.

The first four rounds saw both fighters feeling each other out, with Joshua holding the advantage on most unofficial cards due to his activity, before finally exploding in the fifth round when Joshua sent Klitschko to the canvas with a vicious right hand and flurry of punches.

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Joshua took his foot off the gas after that, feeling he had the fight won — as many did after seeing Klitschko’s face as he got back up — but the former champion was not going to be taken out that easily. Klitschko bounced back strong to end the fifth, battering Joshua and sending him staggering back to his corner, and then sent Joshua down in the sixth for the first time in his career.

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Joshua showed impressive resolve having been tested for the first time in his career, and was able to weather the storm and climb back into the fight, extending it to the late rounds. It was there that he finally prevailed by way of a pair of knockdowns in the 11th before the referee stepped in to stop the fight. The big shots in the 11th were a pair of right uppercuts that staggered Klitschko, before eventually going to the canvas after follow-up shots by Joshua.

It was the official changing of the guard in the heavyweight division as Klitschko, the 41-year-old legend, ceded way to the 27-year-old rising star. This wasn’t an instance of Klitschko being old and out of talent, he looked and boxed better than he has in years, likely because for the first time in nearly a decade he had a competent opponent pushing him and forcing him to be at his best. Joshua earned those belts tonight, and proved that he isn’t simply a product of a weak heavyweight division. As Klitschko said in his post-fight interview, the best man won.

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This was the fight the division needed to bring it back. It had everything one could ask. The stage (90,000 packed into Wembley), the fighters (a champion and ex-champion), the stakes (three titles), and the action (four knockdowns and tons of power punches traded). The heavyweight division hasn’t had any real combination of those in years, but on Saturday night (afternoon here in the States) the goods were delivered.

The logical next step for the heavyweight division is for Joshua and WBC champion Deontay Wilder to square off, with WBO champion Joseph Parker also lurking and waiting for a big money fight with either of the two top dogs in the division. Despite being only 19 fights into his professional career (with 19 KOs), Joshua is now the known commodity at the top of the division, not Wilder, thanks to this performance against Klitschko.

Joshua checked all of the boxes you want to see from a fighter. He faced the best, beat the best, and battled through adversity to persevere. We’ve yet to truly see any of that from Wilder, through no fault of his own, but now the stage is set to create a mega-fight in the heavyweight division between two knockout punchers in their primes. This fight announced that the heavyweight division is back, now they must capitalize on that momentum and make the biggest possible fights happen while the public is craving more action.