Joshua Details Strategy to Limit Klitschko's Excessive Holding
By Keith Idec
Anthony Joshua knows there will be moments Saturday when Wladimir Klitschko holds him, sometimes tighter than others.
Klitschko tends to hold excessively against his most powerful opponents and Joshua’s comparative inexperience aside, he undoubtedly is a dangerous puncher. To a certain extent, it’ll be up to American referee David Fields to keep Klitschko from turning their heavyweight title fight Saturday into a hug-fest.
Some of that responsibility also falls on Joshua (18-0, 18 KOs), who at 6-feet-6 and 250 pounds is more than big and strong enough to break free from Klitschko’s strong grasp. The 27-year-old Joshua and his trainer, Robert McCracken, have worked diligently during training camp to ensure that the 6-feet-6, 240-pound Klitschko can’t hold too much when they fight for the IBF, IBO and WBA heavyweight titles at sold-out Wembley Stadium in London.
“I think holding is natural, but basically it’s what you do when someone’s holding,” Joshua said during a conference call Wednesday. “How do you fight them off?
You bring up the uppercut, you’re ripping the right hand to the body. Until the ref tells you to break, it’s a fight.
“I can’t prevent the holding, but I think it makes it interesting what a fighter does when someone’s holding. When I’ve been held, I wanna just throw the right hand to the body, the left hook to the body. I think that’ll just start taking the wind out of Klitschko.”
Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs), for all his success, was criticized for excessive clinching during much of his 9½-year reign as a heavyweight champion from 2006-2015. The former champion had a point deducted for constantly holding during his unanimous-decision victory over American Bryant Jennings in April 2015 at Madison Square Garden.
The huge Ukrainian also had a point apiece deducted during his wins against Russia’s Alexander Povetkin in October 2013 and England’s David Haye in July 2011 for leaning on them and pushing them to the canvas.
Klitschko is about a 2-1 underdog against Joshua in their heavily hyped fight (Showtime: 4:15 p.m. ET/1:15 p.m. PT; HBO: 11 p.m. ET/PT).
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Joshua Details Strategy to Limit Klitschko's Excessive Holding - Boxing News
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