Anthony Joshua: The Fight of My Life

This programme contains some strong language

-MC:

-The night we've all been waiting for!

15 seconds to leave, 15 seconds.

My name is Anthony Joshua.

Josh, you've got to breathe, mate.

On April 29th,

I fought Wladimir Klitschko in front of 90,000 fans at Wembley Stadium.

Spine-tingling anticipation on the grandest of stages!

Let's rock and roll.

It turned out to be a barnstorm.

I'm in with someone who's just as strong as me.

I knocked HIM down.

He knocked me down.

And I'm like, "Whoa, this ain't what I'm used to!"

But we both climbed off the canvas.

And fought on.

It was epic.

This is my story of that night.

What comes after?

The uppercut.

CHEERING

I don't want to be a boxer that's so detached with the public

that people think,

"Yeah, he's good but I don't think I can achieve that."

I want people to feel like, "I think I can achieve it

"because he's still a normal kid, he still a local boy."

INAUDIBLE CHATTER

You know, if I pop to Finchley, I know I can bump into him and get ten minutes of his time for some advice.

If you want, we just get you in the gate, just come in the gate.

You know, we're back in Finchley where it began.

The dynamics of the ring don't change

and the love of the sport don't change.

It's madness, isn't it? It's like where he is now,

the kids have got a world champion out of their own gym

and he's no different than them. When he wins, everyone wins.

At the beginning, I thought you looked nervous getting in there.

Yeah, cos I swear down, so he come up, yeah,

so imagine me, like, we're fencing,

imagine us, so you've got you're jab here

and he was going...

boom

then he'd do that and go...bang!

When he comes here, he ain't Anthony Joshua the world champion,

he's just Anthony Joshua.

The hardest to hit. I couldn't hit him.

Cos when he jumps back like that, yeah?

So when I was throwing the left hooks,

they were going the right...

He's an ambassador for Finchley Boxing Club.

That's what we want our boxers to strive to be like

and we couldn't ask for a finer, better ambassador, really.

And, background, action!

And action!

SPARRING BOXERS TRADE BLOWS

-COMMENTATOR:

-Joshua, this is a defence

of his world heavyweight crown and he wants to impress

and send a message to that man down at ringside,

Wladimir Klitschko.

Joshua, quite the predator.

He's going hunting and he's going to...

CHEERING DROWNS COMMENTARY

I'd like to officially announce Anthony Joshua against Wladimir Klitschko

at Wembley Stadium on April the 29th!

CHEERING

When people say "Klitschko" they forget there was the Klitschko brothers.

There was Vitali, who was the older brother.

He was kind of paving the way.

And Wladimir, who was the younger brother.

Quiet, well spoken and a very calculated boxer.

Something that broke the mould of what boxers were known for.

He invited me to his training camp once...

..and I never went there for any other reason

but to just kind of keep my eyes on how a world champion moves.

So I had a lot of admiration for everything he had achieved.

Wladimir was unstoppable for ten years.

I think with that comes a bit of complacency as well,

when you're a winner for so long.

And he took the loss to Tyson Fury...

..and he wanted to get what he thought were his belts back.

Sometimes, a fight comes around and you have to take it then and there.

He started saying he wanted to compete with me so I said,

"Cool. Let's take it serious. If you're serious, I'd love to."

Now, Joshua is in deep.

Without risk there's no reward.

Good to see you, man. Say hello to your brother as well.

We've actually come here to give him a big surprise...

..because he's been working hard, training hard for the big event...

..we thought it would be good to do a little something for him,

cos he doesn't ask us for anything.

-Is that your little cousin?

-Is that your cousin?

He's lovely!

He's just a blessing to the family,

an inspiration to the younger ones and also to us as well.

-ALL:

-Surprise!

CHEERING

I don't really like surprises, but what better surprise

than having your family turn up at your workplace.

It's mad, isn't it?

HE LAUGHS

What's happening? What's happening?

This is just to, you know, keep you going until the 29th,

just to say we love you very much and we're proud of you.

My job comes with different pressures

and I think that they accept me for who I am and what I'm going through

so they just wanted to let me know that I'm not facing it alone.

I wanted to do my training

and you're like, "No, that's enough, that's enough, that's enough!"

He wouldn't let me train any more!

I remembered one of the trainers dropped him off at home and said,

"You know what, Mum?

"Your son is going to be a world champion one day."

And I was kind of looking at him, thinking, "What's he talking about?"

Do you know what? I've had a sweet tooth, as well, the whole weekend.

Mum didn't really understand what boxing was about.

But one thing she does know is that it's taught me a lot.

I saw the changes in him, the dedication, the hard work, and all that.

You're always there to support us

and I just wanted you to know that you're always our champion

and you've got all of our support and we all love you.

Thank you very much.

No-one wants to see their son in a fight.

I've only been to two.

It's just too emotional and very nerve-racking and, you know,

as a mum, you feel for your child.

We wish you love for the 29th and we know that you're victorious already.

She just said you know, I'll see you Sunday and that was it.

It's fight week. Let's crack on and let's get the ball rolling.

It's a time when all those months

that you've been preparing and coming down

and you have to zone in, you have to focus

because the fight is upon us and I'm looking forward to it.

I just hope that I can see chinks in

his armour because I will expose him.

He was putting on a show. He was trying to win the crowd.

It's going to be hard doing it here, man.

-MC:

-Ladies and gentlemen,

presenting the heavyweight fighting pride of England,

the IBF Heavyweight Champion Of The World

Anthonyyyy

Joshua!

CHEERING

Are you ready for becoming a legend?

No, I don't want to be a legend, no way.

CHEERING INTENSIFIES

When you're a legend, sometimes you have to disconnect yourself from

reality and I don't want to do that, I want to be with the people.

Klitschko does this thing at the workouts where, when he's finished,

he'll sit there with his brother, you know, like this.

It's daunting looking at those two brothers sitting there.

Could you see Wlad looking at you or did you block him out?

I didn't see! I knew he was there!

I don't play into people's games. I just worry about myself.

-He was actually smiling.

-It's interesting.

-Yeah.

Maybe he's trying to get himself geared up for the fight.

I had a chat with AJ. I think, a couple of times

when he was in the ring, he comes up to me,

he's like, "Look at those two. What are they looking at?"

He found it quite funny but that's the way of imposing himself,

of trying to play mind games.

-CROWD CHANT:

-# Oh, Anthony Joshua

# Oh, Anthony Joshua... #

Way, yes! Way, yes!

I'll fight him now!

LAUGHTER

All roads lead to April 29th, Saturday showdown.

All I keep hearing is that this is the biggest event

in British boxing history. What an event to be involved in, man.

I get an e-mail out of the blue saying

Dr Dre is a big fan and would like to speak to Anthony.

AJ? Phone.

Yo! Be good.

Oh, shit!

LAUGHTER

Oh-ho! Hey!

What's up, brother?

You know how it is.

Just kicking back.

My G!

Wish you good luck, man.

Come on, brother. Going to handle business.

You know what, I got to tell you,

right now you're one of my favourite fighters, man.

You're one of my favourite musicians Straight Outta Compton, but

-the film you did, unbelievable what you've been doing.

-Thank you.

For him to, like, Skype call,

it blew me away a bit because this is someone that I feel like I know

because of the music.

Still grinding. How's the gym going? You still banging weights?

Yeah, yeah I'm doing it right after this.

LAUGHTER

Nah, I appreciate it.

I was with some friends last night in the studio.

We were looking at some of your highlights, man.

The most popular saying was "Oh, shit!"

LAUGHTER

That's what I just said when I saw you on the phone!

I was like, "Oh, shit!"

The first time seeing him face-to-face

and him communicating directly with me, that was phenomenal.

Yeah, good luck this Saturday, man.

-Probably won't need it but...

-Yeah, yeah.

-Yeah.

Big, big up for being a massive inspiration.

-Thank you, man.

-God bless, bruv.

-Yeah, good luck to you.

All right.

Yeah, boom! Anthony Joshua.

That's our next heavyweight champion. Make sure...

Yes.

THEY LAUGH

That's mad!

That's sick, innit?

That's mad.

-Dr Dre.

-That's mad, you know. Dr Dre's a fucking legend, bro.

A proper legend.

HE LAUGHS

I was like, "Oh, shit!"

You nearly called him a magician.

"You're one of my favourite "mugicians"."

LAUGHTER

That's what it was, dude!

I had some food in my mouth.

You could've prepared me for that shit!

CHEERING

That press conference was held at Sky's HQ.

Closed to the public.

It felt like it was open to the public

and it was open to the Anthony Joshua fan club.

I don't know how Sky was operating.

I think all the channels were down for, like, half the day.

It was like turning up at the O2, almost, for a fight.

Like, it was the same sort of ring walk.

Triple, quadruple the amount of people I've ever had.

Still blows me away till today. It's phenomenal.

It starts in a little gym around Finchley.

And we've taken it to the world.

It was incredible.

And every international broadcaster that came all said to me

that that press conference was one of the most unbelievable things

they have seen in boxing.

I think it's fair to say we have one hell of a fight on our hands on

Saturday night.

It's an honour to have Wladimir Klitschko here.

He's been a legend of the heavyweight division.

This man to my right, Anthony Joshua, what a story.

But on Saturday night he has the ultimate test.

Is it too early? Is it too late?

You know what? Let's roll the dice, let's find out.

That's what great sport's all about.

I could go in there and I could talk some real smack.

Let's go on Saturday night for a huge event. Thank you so much.

But talking don't win fights.

I feel young, hungry, humble,

and totally obsessed.

I'm looking forward to competing again...

..and even though it's such an amazing event,

I always try to strip everything back down to reality

and what it really is and just focus on it's just me and a man

coming to blows, and the best man will win.

Last week there were rumours that you were carrying an eye socket injury. Is there any truth to that?

Fake news!

LAUGHTER

What will defeat mean to both of you, to Anthony and Wladimir?

I can't answer that. Honestly. What does defeat mean?

What will it mean if you lose?

I will help you, AJ, I will help you. I've been there.

-Yeah.

-I've done that.

I get up, shook off, and came back stronger.

So, and I did each time.

Just a little help. Nothing scary about it.

He's such a pro, you know. He knows what he's doing.

He knows how to protect his brand and his image

and also play games with his opponent's minds.

I'm not Nostradamus but...

..on this USB stick...

..I record a video last week.

My prediction, so to say...

..on the outcome of the fight.

This stick is going to be integrated in my robe

which I'm going to wear this Saturday night.

The only person who's going to be able to open it up and watch it...

..is the person that's going to buy this robe with this stick...

..and all the money will go to the Klitschko Foundation.

Wladimir knows what's going to happen on Saturday night.

What do YOU think happens on Saturday night?

I win.

I win.

It's not complicated. It's not complicated.

The fight house is so important to him in terms of this preparation.

He's got the right people around him keeping him chilled out,

keeping him relaxed.

It's a really nice environment to be in in that week.

Today we had our press conference where we done a lot of talking.

There's things that I wish I could've said.

You always realise what you could've said after the press conference

but it's all good. It was a massive turnout,

you know, unbelievable turnout.

The support has definitely grown.

I could definitely see that, fight by fight.

The support and interest is growing

and that goes down to the type of fighters I fight.

The better the opponent, the more interest there is.

I just want to perform the same way I've been performing

against other opponents so it's like pressure on performance

rather than pressure on the event

and how am I going to feel dealing with the event?

It's not that. I just want to perform to my best capability.

That's all it is.

Now, it's just time to switch off.

I have a fight to focus on and rest is key.

As it gets closer, pressure starts mounting

and it's like I don't want to like get so excited

that the jar gets too full and ready to explode

before I'd even had the fight,

so I'm just trying to stay calm but, like,

sometimes when I'm lying in bed it's like I can't sleep.

I'm just, like, thinking about it. It's like I can't wait to perform,

it's going to be sick but I'm like let me just...

It's just another day. I've got to see it as another day

so it's like you're constantly in a mental battle with,

do I stay relaxed,

do I just enjoy this moment because of what it is?

So you're just in a mental battle with how you deal with these type of occasions.

Tomorrow, a new day,

a day away from the fight and we've just got to stand on the scales,

we weigh in, you know, it's going to be a massive turnout.

And it's like the eye to eye

because this is the closest you're going to get.

You know, shirts off, sizing each other up.

-ANNOUNCER:

-12 rounds of boxing

for the unified WBA, IBO, IBF

Heavyweight Championship Of The World!

Let's get this party started!

CHEERING

I'm Tony Bellew. I'm here with the champ himself, Anthony Joshua,

looking absolutely marvellous, fantastic.

About to go into the weigh in,

the most relaxed I've ever seen a guy before a huge weigh in.

Anthony, tell me, brother. How's things? How's it going?

Things are good, no complaining,

These things are meant to happen, we are meant to be in fights like this.

It just shows it's a brilliant time for British boxing.

I'm not going to ask for a prediction.

All's I'm going to say is Anthony Joshua is going to be Anthony Joshua

and Wladimir Klitschko will be Wladimir Klitschko.

The most important thing is that both guys come in,

get stuck in and the best man will win and for me

that is the guy I'm standing with.

You know what it is.

LAUGHTER

He would say that, wouldn't he?!

It's brilliant when those two fighters come together

at the weigh in and they look each other in the eye.

Just that moment when you think, "Wow, it's tomorrow."

The only thing that I was worried about was that nothing

could prepare him for the spectacle of the next night.

On Friday, there's pull-outs in every paper.

You know, six, eight-page pull-outs.

I mean, that doesn't happen in boxing.

It's the sort of thing that happens

when World Cups or European Championships are on,

That's when it suddenly really dawns.

Tonight's the night.

But he's so relaxed about everything you know?

The one phrase I hear him say a lot is "no stress".

Boxing is tough enough as it is and if you're not going to enjoy it you

might as well give it up.

So, I don't think having a little laugh will deter from me

having the ambition to go out there, perform.

Looks like the last little MOT before we take the car on the track.

HE LAUGHS

What I'm trying to do is just go with the flow.

I'm here, I'm at peace, this is what I've been working for,

let's just go out there and have fun.

It was a lovely day. The sun was out.

I'm in good spirits. Get to Wembley...

..let me get the focus, so...

Holyfield! I'm like, "Wow"!

What a man, what a fighter.

He achieved things that were ahead of his time.

It's like he's looking at me, like, whoa,

is this guy coming to fight or is he here as a spectator?

The arena is probably pumping and I'm in this changing room where it's

quiet, you know? I'm just resting.

Little half an hour's sleep but my eyes keep on peeping open

because how can you sleep when you're filled with so much energy?

You're doing your wraps and the

reason why you send someone from your team in

is so you oversee that there's no craftiness going on,

like, there's stories of people

putting in metal rods into their gloves.

Do a fist again? OK, open up.

It's just a way of protecting a fighter, so he sent in his older brother.

I'm just sending my six foot nine brother,

former three-time world champion in just to inspect your hand wraps.

Just another part of the Klitschko mind game.

Very, very intimidating, very clever.

When it's done, I stand up.

Look Vitali in the eye. Yeah, good? You like the wraps? You happy?

You sure? Good. Wish your brother good luck.

That's it.

Switch up.

Let's get ready to rock and roll.

This position I'm in doesn't last forever.

So while you're on your journey, enjoy it. Relax. Breathe.

-MC:

-Ladies and gentlemen,

this is the moment we've all been waiting for!

Welcome the Challenger,

Dr Steelhammer,

Wladimir Klitschko!

15 seconds to leave, 15 seconds.

Joshua. Breathe, man, breathe,

let the shots flow, use that speed.

We just walked out into this wall of energy.

CHEERING

It was like nothing I've ever experienced in my life

so I can only imagine what he was

feeling like, coping with that situation.

And sometimes those moments are just as important

to see how he deals with it.

-CROWD CHANTS ECHO:

-# Oh, Anthony Joshua!

# Oh, Anthony Joshua!

I get on the stage now, and I start, you know, floating.

# Oh, Anthony Joshua!

All I could see was, like, five Ukrainian flags,

Vitali and Wladimir standing there waiting

and I'm thinking this, this would wind ME up.

Like, I'm waiting to fight and this geezer's got "AJ" up in flames.

Fireworks going off.

# Oh, Anthony Joshua... #

I can't afford to lose tonight.

-MC:

-Let's get it on!

This is what we were training for for the last eight years.

Forget everything else that's going on. This is mano a mano.

This is me and Klitschko.

This is about pride.

From Kiev, Ukraine,

Wladimir Klitschko!

BOOING AND CLAPPING

And his opponent,

AJ, Anthony...

..Joshua!

CHEERING

I've had a lot of respect for Klitschko, from years back,

so we touch gloves.

Touch gloves, good luck.

The respect's still there.

I've walked back.

You look left, you look right,

and behind you everyone gets out

and it's just you left in there with your opponent.

So let's rock and roll.

BELL RINGS

The time has arrived, light the touchpaper.

So we come out now, checking your balance, I'm in my all-white,

I'm feeling good.

Nobody really wants to take a gamble or take any risks this early on.

I realise Klitschko was hitting my hand.

Bang! Bang!

From years of training, he must have built up

a lot of strength in that arm to be able to knock your hand out the way,

knock it out the way, and I realise I'm in with someone

who's just as strong as me and who can match me for ability.

He was having a lot of success with the right hand early on.

Goog right hander there from Klitschko. And another one.

Doubling them up.

Looking back, I think the respect that I had for Klitschko

outside of the ring, I transferred it inside of the ring.

I had to get rid of the respect I had for him and just turn it into a dogfight.

BELL RINGS

Fifth round - only the 49th for Anthony Joshua.

The 363rd for Wladimir Klitschko.

And Anthony Joshua...is going for it, in the fifth round,

and Klitschko's shaken!

He's hurt for the first time in 11 years!

Big moments for Joshua and he's cut, as well, by the left eye!

CROWD ROARS

In my heart of hearts, I thought to myself, "This is it."

I roared to the crowd as if I'd done it, I'm walking off still screaming,

the ref is grabbing me, pushing me to the corner,

what I didn't realise is that Klitschko, like a Terminator,

is rising to his feet, filling himself with a new lease of life

and coming out to give it his last push.

He's in danger of falling apart! There's so much time in the round!

I've come out thinking, "This is it",

I've swung a right hand, missed.

I swing the left hook up, I've missed.

Klitschko starts fighting back

and I'm like, "Whoa, this ain't what I'm used to."

Do you know what I mean?

But it's not...I can't say, "One sec, Klitsch!"

You know what I mean? "I'm not used to this, bro,

"let me just kind of gather myself for a minute!"

A big smile from Joshua, that Klitschko's fighting back

with a left and right as they go to war!

Caught a left hook there, Joshua!

Is Joshua hurt here?

Right hand from Klitschko there!

Massive power punches going in,

and Klitschko's looking to take Joshua out.

The big left hand. He's really badly hurt,

the Englishman, and now he's in real trouble.

BELL

And the bell goes.

What on earth did that take out of the pair of them?

One thing that a coach has never taught me is...

..to take a punch, lie down for ten seconds

and get up before the count is over

so he's never come into the gym with a baseball bat and said,

"All right, Josh?

"What we're going to do today is smack you round the jaw ten times

"and you're going to lay out and we're going to see

"if you can get up."

You're never taught that so it's a

situation when you're in a fight or flight mode.

Ohh! Massive right hand from Wladimir Klitschko,

and Joshua is down now.

The count's at five, will he make it up?

It was a heavier fall than Klitschko's.

What I learned about myself is character.

What no-one can train is who you are deep down.

He shakes his head, Joshua.

And I think when someone can match you with,

punch for punch, power for power, speed for speed,

it becomes about who you are and how bad you want it.

Talking to him.

When I'm talking to Klitschko, I think it's just the fight in me,

just the confidence in me,

and just reassuring myself that I'm still in the fight.

He keeps talking, Joshua.

And I'm just letting him know, if you let me through this next round,

I'm going to knock you the fuck out.

Joshua on the attack now.

Maybe he is recovering.

I feel like the dangerous stage for Joshua has been and gone now.

BELL

Josh, he's 41 and he's tired.

Don't mess about. Come on.

Round 11!

So I'm switched on now because it's taken me 11 rounds

to figure out the type of combinations he throws.

BELL

Big shots, though, at the beginning of the 11th.

Anthony Joshua is now going for it, and Klitschko's got to hold on!

So as he's throwing the right-hand, that's come straight out,

you either go to the side or under.

So what I've decided to do is try and go under,

right-hand to the body, then left hook to the head.

But, unfortunately, none of those punches landed.

And then out of the blue when I've gone to the right, to the left,

you just naturally rotate and what comes after

is the uppercut.

Oh, the uppercut from Anthony Joshua!

So I'm looking at him, thinking, "Oh, is he hurt?"

I don't want to waste any energy here.

And I can see he's like trying to old-man me.

He's experienced that.

"Yeah, you landed a good punch, son, but you haven't hurt me",

but I thought, you know what?

Eff this. Bang!

Bang! Uppercut, hook!

Body shot.

And down goes the giant Ukrainian.

He went down, he got back up,

I thought, this geezer don't want to stay down.

Boom.

So I chase him across the ring now,

he's dodging it still,

he's moving, I'm thinking, "I can't pin this guy down."

So I've got him on the ropes.

Uppercut, hook...timber!

He's just fallen, like that.

Boof!

Unbelievable scenes at Wembley!

I thought, "That's it, he's definitely not getting back."

I walked to the corner, I look back,

all I see is him standing up on the other side of the ring again.

I thought, "My days". But I just knew

I wasn't going to let him off the hook again.

I had the energy I needed.

I hit him with another barrage of punches.

This is great work from Joshua!

What fitness, what heart from Klitschko!

But the fight has been stopped!

Lift-off for AJ!

He came to fight, but it weren't enough to defeat me.

What a fight!

What a night!

What a win!

Even though...

..I was in the fight, I knew that was a really exciting one.

I appreciate it more now but at the time, I just thought, phew,

that was a really good scrap, actually.

The winner, now the unified Heavyweight Champion Of The World,

AJ!

Anthony

Joshua!

Everything was bigger than what it was before

so all it needed was an entertaining fight.

When you have two fighters that put all the hype,

all the support and all the expectations aside and say

this is me and you, we're going to put our hearts on our sleeve and

come and trade it out, I think you get the best competition

and then that's what we produced that night.

Just two pure warriors coming

together and laying it all on the line.