Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko stunned the viewing public with a heavyweight contest for the ages at Wembley on Saturday night, a fight which can be neatly filed in our memories under the title A Great Sporting Event. There have been plenty of those this year - Masters Sunday; Barcelona's comeback against PSG; Federer/Nadal in Australia - and countless accrued over years gone by, but in the last fifteen years, very few of these have been furnished by boxing's heavyweight division.
Klitschko was a great champion who was cursed with a dearth of quality opposition since Lennox Lewis hung up his gloves in 2003.
The decline of the heavyweight division has been explored at length, particularly in the United States, as writers, broadcasters, and journalists frequently lament the disappearance of the Great American Heavyweight to more lucrative pursuits like the NFL, along with the lack of a proper, era-defining rivalry. and the splintering of the division.
All of that changed at Wembley on Saturday night, as both men clambered from canvas before Joshua eventually sealed an extraordinary victory.
Afterward, HBO's team of analysts were positively giddy at what they had seen, with Max Kellerman particularly glowing in his praise, twitching like a child on Christmas morning. As the words fell excitedly from his mouth, Kellerman also managed to sum up the legacy of the fight, and precisely why it was so important.
Watch it below. Kellerman begins at 3.30.
HBO Analysis Joshua/Klitschko
https://youtu.be/xR_Txjp-eGo
