There were two common themes repeated over and over again at this afternoon’s New York City leg of the press tour to announce the Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko Heavyweight championship bout to take place April 29 at London’s Wembley Stadium.
The first theme was the massive scale the fight has ballooned to where promoter Eddie Hearn said over 80,000 tickets have been sold and they are well on their way to hosting a record 90,000 fans inside the iconic soccer stadium. The fight will be carried by Sky Sports PPV in England and both Showtime and HBO are jockeying for the rights to air the bout in the United States.
“We’ve asked London Mayor Sadiq Khan to allow us to expand the seating chart and to allow for additional modes of transportation to help the fans to travel to and from the stadium,” said Hearn. “This is the biggest boxing match in England’s boxing history.
A championship bout between former champion Klitschko and the rising young British star Anthony was bound to draw interest. However, since the bout was first realized following Joshua’s destruction of Eric Molina late last year, interest has continued to swell beyond anyone’s expectations.
“The fight is getting bigger and bigger and it’s now become my biggest stage and my biggest challenge,” said Klitschko before the press conference began. “I fought in front of 40,000, maybe 50,000 but not 90,000. It’s incredible.”
Klitschko is no stranger to large fights while ruling the Heavyweight division for over a decade until a putrid performance against Tyson Fury in 2015 cost him all of his titles at once. Unable to get Fury in the ring for a rematch, Klitschko will get some vindication in knowing his name alongside Joshua’s on the marquee carries a direct impact on the worldwide interest in the bout.
The second theme of the press conference were the questions all of the participants were asking of themselves from up on the dais. Joshua is wondering aloud along with everyone else if this mega fight is coming too soon for the 27-year old Olympic gold medalist.
Klitschko meanwhile pondered if he has anything left in the tank given his age, the long layoff and of course the poor outing his last time out against Fury.
“I am 100 percent obsessed with winning this fight and being a three-time world champion,” said Klitschko with emotion. “I will say it again. I am obsessed.”
Joshua, appearing for the very first time in front of the US media, took the moment in and appeared relaxed.
“It’s an honor to be here today at the Mecca of Boxing in the Unites States,” said Joshua. “I have wanted to fight in the United States and I know that day will come soon. Right now my only focus is on winning. Winning will solve everything and lead me where I need to be.”
Joshua was Klitschko’s sparring partner in 2014 and while Klitschko didn’t divulge what if any advantage that may bring to him for this bout he did bring up additional questions.
“There is no name on the resume where you can look and say look at this guy or look at that guy,” said Klistchko. “There’s just more questions about Joshua. How will he handle someone fighting back? Someone who will make him back up? How will he handle getting knocked down and having to get back up to fight? We don’t know these things. He has speed and power, but he is raw.”
The final question was again if this is the ideal time in both fighters’ careers for this matchup. Klitschko’s face lit up.
“This is the right time for this fight because in three years he will be unbeatable and I will be too old, maybe,” said Klitschko with a grin.
Hearn then took a long look at his star fighter and nodded.
“I don’t know if this is the right time,” suggested Hearn. ”What I do know is that I believe Joshua will be the biggest name in boxing. That’s what I believe so if he doesn’t win this fight then maybe we were wrong, but I don’t believe we will be wrong.”
Joshua and Klitschko are joining esteemed pop history of selling out Wembley Stadium. Other acts to have that feat include Eminem, Green Day, the popular British group Muse and most recently Adele.
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