Anthony Joshua forced Otto Wallin’s retirement after the fifth round of their fight at Day of Reckoning in Riyadh on Saturday.
Joshua met Wallin with plenty of pressure on him, at least according to his potential future opponent Deontay Wilder.
The Briton has been rebuilding his career after back-to-back losses against current unified heavyweight champion, Oleksandr Usyk.
He had fought twice already in 2023, beating American Jermaine Franklin and then against another Scandinavian, Robert Helenius.
Wallin arrived in Riyadh as a credible fighter, and was perhaps best known for pushing Tyson Fury hard in 2019, despite losing to the undefeated Briton.
A win for Joshua was expected to lead to a 2024 clash against Wilder, who lost to Joseph Parker in the preceding co-main event, meaning Parker is now in the frame for the Briton. The winner of that could now be expected to meet the winner of Fury and Usyk, or challenge for any vacated belt next year.
Joshua neglected to throw shade at Wilder and insisted their bout could still go ahead in the future.
“I could rip him for all the things he’s said about me but I’ll take the higher ground,” Joshua said.
“He can come back, you saw Daniel Dubois tonight.
“I’m sure everyone still wants to see that fight.”
The first round started positively for Joshua, and he carried that momentum into the second against Wallin, who looked sluggish on his feet. Joshua, however, looked close to his aggressive best.
Joshua continued to find the Swede an easy target and had him roughed-up in the corner in the fourth round, with the Englishman demonstrating his power and focus, forcing Wallin into even more trouble in the fifth as the crowd anticipated an early finish.
With Joshua getting ready to renew hostilities in the sixth round, Wallin’s team decided that their man was done, and he did not come out again. All attention now turns to what next for Joshua.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn was effusive over his fighter.
He proclaimed: “He’s back, they told me, Ben Davison and his team, he’s back. He’s destroying people in sparring, he’s punching people so hard. I believe that Anthony Joshua is the best heavyweight in the world. That was a punch-perfect performance against Otto Wallin, [who] is an excellent heavyweight.
“He absolutely dispatched him. He broke him down, he broke his nose, he broke his body, he broke his eye. It was a stunning performance. I think he’s unbeatable, 2024 is going to be a massive year for him.”
Hearn believes that Croatian fighter Hrgovic is the next choice for a match-up as he anticipated the proposed Wilder fight now to be unlikely.
“It was a tough decision between the championship and Deontay Wilder,” he added. “He signed for Wilder, he lost tonight, that’s OK, it happens in boxing. Maybe it’s a blessing because really he wants championships, and now Otto Wallin is No. 2 in the division, it’s going to be Hrgovic against AJ for the world title to see him be a three-time world champion. Every heavyweight should be on notice, he’s back.”
How to watch ‘Day of Reckoning’
‘Day of Reckoning’ costs £19.99 in the UK and can be watched through DAZN or TNT Sports Box Office and is available via the DAZN app on Smart TVs, streaming sticks, tablets, laptops and game consoles, Virgin Media TV, Sky and EE TV.
You do not need to be a subscriber to buy this event and more information on all the ways you can watch can be found at www.dayofreckoning.co.uk.DAZN customers can purchase the fight on www.DAZN.com or via the DAZN app, accessed on their Smart TVs, streaming sticks, laptop, tablets, mobiles and games consoles.Sky customers can purchase on channel 494 via their remote control or via https://www.sky.com/boxoffice/tnt-sports.Virgin Media TV customers in the UK: customers with a TiVo and/or V6 set-top-box should visit the On-Demand section and choose Live Events; customers with a Virgin TV 360 and/or Stream set-top-box should go to the Pay Per View Events rail.EE TV customers can go to channel 495 and pay using their remote control.
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