Anthony Joshua still had a job to do even if plans for his next fight evaporated before he made it out of his dressing room.
The former two-time unified heavyweight titlist avoided the upset bug and dominated Sweden’s Otto Wallin over five one-sided rounds. No knockdowns were scored in the ‘Day of Reckoning’ Pay-Per-View main event but England’s Joshua had Wallin bloodied and badly hurt in round five, after which Wallin’s corner called for a stoppage in between roudns Saturday evening at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“My approach was victory by any means,” Joshua told DAZN’s Chris Mannix after his third win on the year. “Every cell and soul needed to be on focus. I knew Otto Wallin wanted to do whatever it takes to be victorious.”
Preceding the main event, Deontay Wilder (43-3-1, 42KOs) was removed from the equation for a long-desired showdown versus Joshua after he suffered a lopsided unanimous decision defeat to New Zealand’s Joseph Parker (34-3, 23KOs) in the evening’s chief support. Wins by Joshua and Wilder were supposed to set up a March 9 super fight more than six years in the making.
Watford’s Joshua was comfortable behind the jab, which was enough to control the action versus Wallin—who is now based in New York City—who never seemed to find his offensive rhythm. The weapon set up straight right hands for the former heavyweight champ, to which Wallin never had a sound response.
The jab continued to be on point for Joshua, who also effectively landed a straight right hand to the body in round three. Joshua brought his attack upstairs and managed to bloody Wallin’s nose, along with a cut under the Swedish southpaw’s right eye.
Joshua continued to pick apart Wallin in round four. The right hand was thrown with great conviction, while Wallin’s best moments were limited to arm punches.
Wallin was forced into retreat mode almost immediately at the start of the fifth after taking a right hand to the body. Things would get much worse for him, as Joshua rocked him with a straight right hand and left hook to the chin. Joshua paused before he moved in to continue with his subtle but potent offensive attack. A straight right later landed as did another left hook, which Wallin took but appeared to be on borrowed time.
Head trainer Joey Gamache saw enough and informed referee Steve Gray that his guy was done for the night. Wallin fell to 26-2 (14KOs) which snapped a six-fight win streak. His lone other defeat came to England’s Tyson Fury, whom he had cut early in their September 2019 affair en route to dropping a twelve-round, unanimous decision.
Joshua advanced to 27-3 (24KOs) with his third consecutive victory, all in an active 2023 campaign.
Despite the win, Joshua’s immediate next step was unclear. Various reports indicated that his next fight would come versus Wilder on March 9, towards the end of Riyadh season which would have marked its fourth heavyweight-headlined event during the period.
The insistence from the suddenly red-hot former titlist was that it was business as usual regardless of what took place in the fight preceding his own.
“I wasn’t even watching,” Joshua noted of the Parker-Wilder fight. “Deontay, everything he’s said about me, I could rip him apart. But I’m gonna take the higher ground.”
All three Joshua wins on the year have come after back-to-back defeats to Oleksandr Usyk (21-0, 14KOs), who holds the WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight titles. All the belts will be at stake in his February 17 undisputed championship versus Fury, who risks his lineal championship and WBC title.
Joshua was once in that position to challenge Fury for all the marbles but a series of out-of-ring rulings delayed that process. Joshua went on to lose his belts to Usyk in September 2021, and fell short in their rematch last August in Jeddah.
The setbacks taught—or at least reminded him—to take this sport one step at a time.
“This game is a treacherous business,” noted Joshua. “It’s a slippery [climb]. One win gets you up the ladder, and a loss takes you all the way down. Every fight leads towards the final destination. I’ve got to continue to be victorious, and it just happens naturally. We keep going otherwise it’s straight back down the ladder.
“I have to stay focused. I’m on a journey and it’s hard. But I’ve got to stay focused while I’m doing this and will see how far I can take this.”
By Jake Donovan