It was nearly two Klitschkos in one evening for Anthony Joshua at Wembley.
Having just put away Wladimir in the 11th round, there was a scuffle in the ring involving ‘AJ’ and the older Klitschko brother as the pair almost came to blows in front of 90,000 roaring fans inside the iconic stadium.
The incident went largely unnoticed because of the sheer number of people that rushed the ring after the biggest win of Joshua’s career to date but promoter Eddie Hearn since revealed how members of both camps had to intervene when Vitali Klitschko took umbrage with something and attempted to get his hands on the 27-year-old.
Hearn did not know the reason for the kerfuffle but Wladimir’s personal cutman, Jacob ‘Stitch’ Duran, has offered some insight into what pissed Vitali off.
And, apparently, it was all one big misunderstanding.
Speaking to BoxingNewsOnline.net, ‘Stitch’ revealed how a compliment from Joshua was simply lost in translation.
“Johnathon [Banks, Wladimir’s trainer] was telling me something had happened. Johnathon’s response was when someone speaks real fast to him [Vitali], and maybe with a British accent, he responds according to what he hears,” ‘Stitch’ said.
“So I think Anthony Joshua, went over to congratulate Wladimir and said ‘effing good fight’ and Vitali picked up on just ‘effing,’ that’s what JB was telling me. He said he had to come in between them, he and Joshua have a good relationship and [Banks] stepped in…”
There were some far-from-subtle mind games on show prior to the fight when Vitali was sent into Joshua’s changing room to check that everything was above board while the Brit had his hands wrapped.
The intimidation tactics clearly didn’t work as Joshua showed impressive heart in his victory, the 19th of his perfect professional career.
And while Vitali Klitschko, a three-time world heavyweight champion, could almost certainly still hold his own in the squared circle, we would not expect to see the 45-year-old come out of retirement to test his skills against Joshua.
But that would be a fight that would make a hell of a lot of money… Just sayin’.
