Anthony Joshua Names Wladimir Klitschko As Hardest Puncher He Ever Faced

Nigerian-born British heavyweight boxer, Anthony Joshua has admitted that former heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko remains the hardest puncher he has ever shared a ring with.

Anthony Joshua, who won Olympic gold at London 2012 before turning professional a year later, has fought some of boxing’s most dangerous hitters, including Andy Ruiz Jr and Oleksandr Usyk. Yet when asked to reflect on pure punching power, the 35-year-old pointed to his unforgettable 2017 battle with Klitschko at Wembley.

“Who’s hit me the hardest? Yeah, Klitschko,” Joshua revealed on the Pound for Pound podcast via DAZN.

He went on to explain the danger he felt in the ring that night. “I was gonna say Ruiz, but when he hit me, that was like a concussion on the back of my head. When I went in with Klitschko, yeah, I just knew this could go two ways. I could either win or I’m gonna be laid out on my back. You know when you get carried out on a stretcher?”

Joshua eventually stopped the Ukrainian in the 11th round in front of a record crowd, cementing his place as a rising star in the heavyweight division.

He had already won the IBF title a year earlier by defeating Charles Martin and later went on to unify the belts before his shocking upset loss to Ruiz in 2019.

The former champion has not fought since September 2024, when he was knocked out by fellow Briton Daniel Dubois. He later underwent elbow surgery and has been recovering while weighing up his next move.

Promoter Eddie Hearn recently confirmed that plans are underway for Joshua’s return in early 2026, with a long-term target of finally securing a blockbuster fight against Tyson Fury.

“Now he’s back in training and my conversations over the last couple of weeks have been very positive with him about locking in a date and returning,” Hearn told Sky Sports. “Then I saw that post [directed at Fury]. When AJ posts something like that, you know that he’s on. He’s like, ‘Let’s go, I’m back,’ and that’s where we’re up to. So the next move is to lock in that fight in early 2026, and then we want Tyson Fury.”

Fury, now 37, had announced his retirement earlier this year following consecutive defeats to Usyk, but he has since dropped hints about a comeback. Hearn is optimistic that the all-British showdown will eventually happen, though both fighters are expected to take separate bouts first.

“We expect Fury to have another fight as well, if he’s going to fight AJ,” Hearn added. “There haven’t really been any conversations. The kind of vibe I’m getting from the team is ‘we’re confident it will happen’. But until we start talking, who knows? We’re not just putting all our eggs in one basket to say it’s Tyson Fury because before that, we’re going to have another fight and we’ve got to win that one first.”