Roach Picks Joshua to Beat Klitschko

Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach is picking IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua to come home with the IBO, WBA world titles, when he faces former division ruler Wladimir Klitschko on Saturday night before a record crowd of 90,000 fans at Wembley in London.

Joshua (18-0, 18 KOs), who won Olympic gold in 2012, is ready to become the next division kingpin, but first he must overcome the experience of Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs), who is taking part in his 28th world title fight.

Klitschko has been out of the ring since November 2015, when he suffered an upset twelve round decision loss to Tyson Fury in Germany. It was the biggest upset of the year, with Klitschko suffered his first defeat after eleven years of dominance.

Attempts to get a rematch with Fury fell through the cracks, with Tyson withdrawing from two scheduled dates and then vacating his titles to deal with his mental health issues.

Roach has traveled over the UK, as he’s the new head trainer of former world champion Scott Quigg, who will appear on the undercard against Viorel Simion in a world title eliminator. Should Quigg win, it will set up a showdown with countryman, Lee Selby, who holds the IBF featherweight title.

"Experience is a really, really huge obstacle for young guys," Roach told Sky Sports News HQ. "The thing is how much can he really bring to the table, how much of that old Klitschko can he bring back?

"He’s in a very difficult situation right now – does he have one more left or not? We’ll see very soon. I’m really excited about being a spectator in there with 80,000 people going crazy. It should be a lot of fun and I hope I get a good seat. I’m going to go with youth even though Klitschko is my friend – he’ll be mad at me but I think youth should prevail."