Who’s the hardest puncher Anthony Joshua has faced?
It’s not the man who put him down four times and then knocked him out in seven rounds, he said on the Pound for Pound Podcast. It’s Wladimir Klitschko.
Andy Ruiz Jr. got up from a knockdown to hurt Joshua with a left hook to the temple in Round 3 and it was all downhill for the Englishman from that point. Joshua went down twice that round and twice more in Round 7 before the fight was stopped last June, giving Ruiz one of the biggest upsets in recent years.
Joshua won the rematch by decision in December.
Klitschko, 41 when he fought Joshua in April 2017, went down in Round 5 against Joshua but returned the favor the following round with a big right hand. Joshua survived and ultimately stopped Klitschko in Round 11.
“Who’s hit me the hardest? Yeah, Klitschko,” Joshua said on the podcast. “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, referring to Klitschko, added for emphasis: “This guy’s a beast, he’s a beast.”