Where the hell did this come from?
Either his manager has control of his Twitter account or, at the age of 41, Wladimir Klitschko has just realised how to sell pay-per-views.
History has told us that the key to pay-per-view success when it comes to combat sports is bad blood.
And there’s only one way to stir up bad blood – shit talk.
Only last month we saw David Haye fashion an interest in his clash with Tony Bellew by spouting endless abuse about the Liverpudlian.
Bellew has reignited the war of words with Haye… https://t.co/WQYesUfvhS
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) March 9, 2017
UFC star Conor McGregor has become the biggest draw in all of fighting by spitting gold into every microphone that’s put in front of him.
We were expecting something altogether more civil throughout the build-up to Anthony Joshua’s upcoming clash with Wladimir Klitschko in Wembley because neither man is much of a trash-talker.
Joshua is a respectful young prospect whose humility comes as almost surprising given his meteoric rise through the professional ranks and his imposing physique.
And throughout his career, Klitschko has been stoic and avoided rising to the mouthy tactics of both Haye and Tyson Fury, the man who dethroned him in 2015.
Klitschko’s technical skills have never been questioned but he’s never been the most prolific when it came to selling fights due to his relaxed, solemn and respectful nature.
That made it all the more bizarre to see his tweet on Saturday morning, when he described upcoming opponent Joshua as “a wannabe billionaire”.
On April 29th I'm going to fight a wannabe billionaire. Fellas, how many wannabe billionaires did you "fight" in your life? I've none.
— Klitschko (@Klitschko) April 8, 2017
The name-calling was so out of character from the Ukrainian that his followers had to call him on it.
@Klitschko Here begins the fake bad blood to sell a few more PPVs…?
— l (@481798) April 8, 2017
@Klitschko Hear starts the fake bad blood to sell the PPV to the casual fans ? ? ?
— Danny Baxter (@baxterdaniel53) April 8, 2017
@York111York @Klitschko ? Don’t see the point tho. 2 world class fighters don’t really need fake needle although part and parcel I suppose
— Danny Baxter (@baxterdaniel53) April 8, 2017
@Klitschko Here comes the fake rivalry ????♂️
— Stefan Broome (@StefanBroome) April 8, 2017
@Klitschko This is a weird tweet from you, there is no need to create drama
— Eszter Domokos (@domieszter) April 8, 2017
Klitschko then urged those reading his tweets to get behind him because he was the more relatable fighter.
How many of you 90.000 that night at Wembley and millions around the world are billionaires?
— Klitschko (@Klitschko) April 8, 2017
Ok, ok, culm down folks you're not alone, I definitely represent the majority of you!
— Klitschko (@Klitschko) April 8, 2017
It wasn’t like Klitschko at all and Joshua’s not the type of person to rise to that bait but he’s in the PPV-selling business now so maybe he will respond.
Either way, he won’t have long to wait until he gets his hands on Klitschko as there are just three weeks to go until the monster heavyweight showdown.
And that leaves plenty of time for more shit talk.
