Joshua v. Klitschko set to pack 90K into Wembley Stadium
By: Matthew N. Becher
Carl Froch is going to have to come up with a better saying than “I knocked out George Groves in front of 80,000 fans at Wembley Stadium”, because a new record is soon to be set on April 23rd in London.
After already selling 80,000 tickets to the general public in a quick amount of time, the highly anticipated Heavyweight title fight between the legendary, former, unified champion Wladamir Klitschko and the current IBF titleholder Anthony Joshua has gotten an OK from the mayor of London to sell ten thousand more tickets.
Mayor Sadiq Khan has granted an extension of seat capacity for the event, due to a demand for tickets.
“I can’t wait to see the fight of the year here in London and it’s fantastic that a post-war record crowd will get to watch it at a world-class venue like Wembley,” Khan said.
The 90 thousand attendance will be a new record for a boxing match in England (Post-War) and will match the previous record between Len Harvey and Jock McAvoy, which took place in 1939.
The fight between Joshua and Klitschko will display a possible changing of the guard scenario with the 41yr old former champion either continuing on with his decade long reign of the division or falling to the young lion in Joshua.
Joshua who will be defending his belt for only a 3rd time, in only his 19th fight will be looking to solidify his name at the top of the division, and add to his unblemished record of 18 wins all coming by way of the knockout.
The record for largest attendance EVER at a boxing match is still held by the famous Stadium Azteca in Mexico City, when in 1993, the legendary Julio Cesar Chavez fought Greg Haugen in front of 136,274 fans.