Six weeks to fighting and no opponent named for Joshua

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This feels a bit shambolic really. A world title fight, heavy weight at that, and no opponent named. This is fine when building a reputation, but he is suppose to be the man to beat now!

I can think of at least one person who has been in training who could step in, though I doubt Wlad would be that interested. He would get some kudos for it though and he is more qualified than the vast majority of contenders out there. Yeah, dream on ...

I'm not sure there was ever much in the way of intent to actually make this. Does not make sense to do in front of 20000 when it can sell 60000. Both teams happy to go through the motions though. Wlad can look like an ambitious guy and Hearn can announce yet another rubbish PPV and AJ opponent safe in the knowledge he'll get a pass as he 'tried' to make the Klitschko fight.

It doesnt look good on klitscko. He could have pushed for the joshua fight with or without the wba title. Instead it looks to me like when the option was presented to face big daddy browne instead of joshua for a title, he wanted that. Now was the time for klitschko to face joshua. Joshua was very inexperienced. 8 months time will likely benefit joshua more. Klitschko is 40. Looks to me like he just wants an few easy options before retirement. Privately i doubt matchroom will be overly disappointed. Having the fight next year suits them more. They might struggle to get klitscko into the ring by then though.

Has Klit actually said that he wanted the WBA title on the line or is it simply because Eddie Hearn said it?

I never thought this fight would take place. It's 6 weeks out from the proposed date and nothing had been formally agreed so this injury just looks like a smokescreen so everyone can keep face. Joshua gets to fight a bum on PPV, Eddie Hearns keeps up his man of the people charade and say how he did everything to make the fight happen and Klit can fight a tomato can in the New Year and then choose his own path as he owns a title of his own.

Miller would be a good choice for Joshua's next opponent, Price would be a joke

Joshua v Miller, Whyte v Chisora same card you'd think about paying for that yeah

Joshua v Price no chance

Pedro147 wrote:Has Klit actually said that he wanted the WBA title on the line or is it simply because Eddie Hearn said it?

I never thought this fight would take place. It's 6 weeks out from the proposed date and nothing had been formally agreed so this injury just looks like a smokescreen so everyone can keep face. Joshua gets to fight a bum on PPV, Eddie Hearns keeps up his man of the people charade and say how he did everything to make the fight happen and Klit can fight a tomato can in the New Year and then choose his own path as he owns a title of his own.

It seems he wants to fight for the belts he was going to fight for against Tyson Fury. For some reason the WBO haven't sanctioned Klitschko for the WBO belt fight off for 10 Dec and he has been waiting around trying to get the WBA to sanction him for the WBA belt fight off whether that would be with Joshua or whoever the WBA decide to sanction. Maybe he is thinking of retiring once he gets one of his more well respected world titles back, with maybe a few defences. He now has what has been reported as a minor injury but Hearn doesn't want to wait any longer for setting up Joshua's next fight which it seems will be for 10 Dec. Hearn's will be happy for Joshua to fight Wladimir next year - when he thinks Joshua will be more ready for him.

Nore Staat wrote:

Pedro147 wrote:Has Klit actually said that he wanted the WBA title on the line or is it simply because Eddie Hearn said it?

I never thought this fight would take place. It's 6 weeks out from the proposed date and nothing had been formally agreed so this injury just looks like a smokescreen so everyone can keep face. Joshua gets to fight a bum on PPV, Eddie Hearns keeps up his man of the people charade and say how he did everything to make the fight happen and Klit can fight a tomato can in the New Year and then choose his own path as he owns a title of his own.

It seems he wants to fight for the belts he was going to fight for against Tyson Fury.  For some reason the WBO haven't sanctioned Klitschko for the WBO belt fight off for 10 Dec and he has been waiting around trying to get the WBA to sanction him for the WBA belt fight off whether that would be with Joshua or whoever the WBA decide to sanction.  Maybe he is thinking of retiring once he gets one of his more well respected world titles back, with maybe a few defences.  He now has what has been reported as a minor injury but Hearn doesn't want to wait any longer for setting up Joshua's next fight which it seems will be for 10 Dec.  Hearn's will be happy for Joshua to fight Wladimir next year - when he thinks Joshua will be more ready for him.

But I've not seen Klit or his team mention this and the only time the WBA belt issue has been raised is by Eddie Hearn/Sky Sports/British press. I'm not saying it's not the case but I've not seen Klit or his team say this. Is it simply Eddie putting that story out, knowing people will believe it even if it's not true and can then put Joshua in against some bum in December on PPV and say there was nothing he could do as Klit and his team caused all this. Is there any decent fighter who's going to take the Joshua fight on with such short notice unless they're looking for an easy pay day.

Klitschko definitely said that the WBA being included for the Joshua fight was a must. Which is pretty pathetic when the alternative is to fight for the belt against Big Daddy Browne. What does it matter at this stage if its IBF or WBA or WBO? Hes already held them. This is kind of typical of Klitschko for me. He has an opportunity to really properly enhance his reputation or show he belongs as a great heavyweight, he doesn't seize it. Happy to stink his way through his fights, happy to take the easy option.

catchweight wrote:Klitschko definitely said that the WBA being included for the Joshua fight was a must. Which is pretty pathetic when the alternative is to fight for the belt against Big Daddy Browne. What does it matter at this stage if its IBF or WBA or WBO? Hes already held them. This is kind of typical of Klitschko for me. He has an opportunity to really properly enhance his reputation or show he belongs as a great heavyweight, he doesn't seize it. Happy to stink his way through his fights, happy to take the easy option.

Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, told Sky Sports: "The deal is there but we are awaiting sanctioning from the WBA.

"Both teams have written to the WBA to request sanctioning of our fight, but Wladimir wants the WBA belt to be on the line so until that is approved we cannot move forward.

"We expect news in the next few days, but in the meantime I believe both sides will look at alternative options for December 10 while we hope to get the news we need to make the fight happen."

The only confirmation we have of this is from Eddie Hearn, one of the biggest spoofers out there. How do we know that Eddie doesn't want both titles on the line so Joshua will have three titles and then all bargaining power for a fight with Wilder. I'm not saying it's not true but I honestly don't believe it's as straight forward as Eddie is saying.

Boente told BoxingScene.com: "For Wladimir, it is absolutely most important that the WBA will sanction his next fight, regardless of his next opponent.

"Wladimir has always been a very loyal and committed WBA champion and the WBA has always been a very important belt.

"So, now we have to see what the WBA rules as the next step, and hopefully quickly because Wladimir wants to fight this year.

"For Wladimir it is very important that the WBA belt be on the line in his next fight and I think it shows that for Wladimir, his intentions are not just to cash in (laugh).

"If this fight with Anthony Joshua will not happen this year, then this fight could happen next summer, for example, in a stadium in Germany or England."

catchweight wrote:Boente told BoxingScene.com: "For Wladimir, it is absolutely most important that the WBA will sanction his next fight, regardless of his next opponent.

"Wladimir has always been a very loyal and committed WBA champion and the WBA has always been a very important belt.

"So, now we have to see what the WBA rules as the next step, and hopefully quickly because Wladimir wants to fight this year.

"For Wladimir it is very important that the WBA belt be on the line in his next fight and I think it shows that for Wladimir, his intentions are not just to cash in (laugh).

"If this fight with Anthony Joshua will not happen this year, then this fight could happen next summer, for example, in a stadium in Germany or England."

Fair enough, never seen that.

I've now changed my opinion completely - Klit is a ducker and is a weak champion in a weak era. Wouldn't last two mins with a decent heavyweight from the golden era. That should do it.

It's important that I can change my opinion as often as I like to ensure that I cover all possible eventualities of things that I say.

I'm with Wladimir on this one- he has been preparing nearly a year to fight for the WBA / WBO combination.  Tyson Fury has given up his belts ... so why on Earth were the WBA keeping a long silence and are still silent, let alone the mystery of the WBO not sanctioning Klitschko as a contender for a revised 10 Dec bout.

Nore Staat wrote:I'm with Wladimir on this one- he has been preparing nearly a year to fight for the WBA / WBO combination.  Tyson Fury has given up his belts ... so why on Earth were the WBA keeping a long silence and are still silent, let alone the mystery of the WBO not sanctioning Klitschko as a contender for a revised 10 Dec bout.

Would it mean he's own three belts opposed to two though?

Won't be paying for Molina either no way