AS ANTHONY JOSHUA crumpled to the canvas, it looked like his defence of his heavyweight world-championship title would not make it past the sixth round. In his 18 previous professional bouts, the 27-year-old Londoner had never been beyond seven rounds, knocking out all of his opponents without once hitting the mat himself. If he was going to preserve his undefeated record, in front of a home crowd of 90,000 spectators at Wembley Stadium on April 29th, he would have to dig deeper than ever before. It did not help his odds that his opponent was Wladimir Klitschko. The 41-year-old Ukrainian, though entering the twilight of his career, is one of the most successful heavyweight boxers of all time. No man in that division has spent more time as a world champion, and only the great Joe Louis has mounted more title defences than “Dr Steelhammer”.

After a cagey opening, Mr Joshua appeared to be in control during the fifth round, as he floored his opponent with a flurry of punches. But Mr Klitschko recovered quickly, finishing the round strongly before scoring a knockdown of his own in the sixth. The dazed Briton barely made the count, buying a few seconds on his knees. Though he staggered on until the bell, the end seemed nigh. Having started as the clear favourite, with bookmakers giving him a two-thirds chance of victory, his odds had dropped to 25%. He struggled onwards, avoiding a killer blow without threatening the older man. He would surely need a late rally or a knockout to win—and in the 11th round, he achieved both. Mr Joshua rocked Mr Klitschko with a jaw-shuddering uppercut, then battered him to the ground. Up came the Ukrainian again; another barrage felled him. Mr Klitschko retreated to the corner, dropping his guard as the pummeling intensified, and the referee stopped the contest.

The fight will be remembered as a spectacular one, perhaps even as a classic, for its dramatic swings in momentum and the ferocity of the punching. Big-money bouts rarely live up to the hype, since the boxers often stalk and dodge each other, rather than slugging it out. Floyd Mayweather’s victory over Manny Pacquiao in 2015 is an infamous example: after waiting five years for a showdown between the two great welterweights, fans witnessed a defensive masterclass from Mr Mayweather that offered few thrills but earned him $180m. Mr Klitschko has won many of his fights this way. Yet both he and Mr Joshua were willing to attack on Saturday evening, with explosive results.

The fight had greater significance, however, than its entertainment value. Above all, it confirmed that an era of stagnation in heavyweight boxing has ended. Every generation has its stars, and Wladimir Klitschko was one of two to dominate the ring over the last decade. Unfortunately, the other titan happened to be his older brother, Vitali (also known as “Dr Ironfist”). Their mother forbade them from fighting, which robbed fans of an epic rivalry—and kept the division trapped in a fraternal oligopoly. The fragmentation of the world championship allowed Vitali to hold the WBC title, while Wladimir accrued the versions managed by the WBA, WBO, IBO, IBF and “The Ring” magazine. Thanks to a weak field of challengers, neither man lost a fight between 2004 and 2015, by which point Vitali had retired (and been elected as the mayor of Kiev). The division became as stale as women’s tennis might have been had Venus and Serena Williams been banned from playing each other.

That hegemony was finally breached in November 2015, when Tyson Fury, a mercurial 28-year-old Briton who styles himself as the “Gypsy King”, unexpectedly beat the younger Mr Klitschko on points by unanimous decision. But a scheduled rematch for late 2016 was cancelled after Mr Fury tested positive for cocaine, lost his boxing licence and endured a very public breakdown. That left a vacuum at the top, as the new king disappeared and the old one wasted a precious year negotiating a non-event. Meanwhile Mr Joshua, who turned professional after winning the Olympic gold medal in 2012, had been steadily gaining experience without facing any fighters of real pedigree. In April 2016 he earned the IBF title that had recently been vacated by Mr Fury. Only then did he secure a meeting with Mr Klitschko—his first opponent to have competed in more than one world-title fight.

Where Mr Fury’s victory was a shock, Mr Joshua’s felt like a changing of the guard. It was easy to see the symbolism as Ukraine’s Olympic champion from 1996 lost to the victor of the 2012 games. Admittedly, neither man is at the peak of his career: both would struggle against Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield or Mike Tyson in their primes, the stars when the division was last truly competitive in the late 1990s. But at last, heavyweight boxing now has at least two evenly matched front-runners. At 41, Mr Klitschko is still four years younger than George Foreman was when he began his second reign as a world champion; the Ukrainian has mentioned a rematch clause in the fight contract. Mr Joshua has expressed an interest in a second fight, but also called for a bout with Mr Fury in his victory speech. The Gypsy King (as Mr Fury calls himself), who is training again, promptly tweeted in response: “Let’s dance.” Also in the frame is Deontay Wilder, an undefeated American 31-year-old who holds the WBC title (though he has yet to challenge for another belt).

Fans can look forward to more contests like Saturday night, which drew the biggest crowd for a heavyweight fight in 90 years. The humility shown by the two men was refreshing: they exchanged little “trash talk” before the fight, and expressed mutual admiration after it. “You leave your ego at the door and you respect your opponent,” Mr Joshua explained. “Two gentleman fought each other,” chimed in Mr Klitschko, “Anthony was better today. He got up, he fought back and he won the title.” A little ribbing between rivals is part of the sport, but in recent years the increasingly hyperbolic bragging and bickering has made for a garish sideshow to boring fights. Time for the gloves to do the talking.