Swedish heavyweight Otto Wallin has taken his punishing loss to Anthony Joshua squarely on the chin.
The New York-based southpaw refused to offer any alibis for his performance against the former heavyweight champion from London when they met last week in the main event of a card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Joshua dominated from the opening bell, forcing a stoppage of Wallin after five rounds of their scheduled 12-rounder. Wallin’s corner, recognizing their fighter was already badly bloodied and bruised, threw in the towel after the conclusion of the fifth round.
Wallin had offered a confident front heading into the fight, saying that Joshua had lost his confidence in recent years and that he was susceptible to southpaws.
In a recent interview, Wallin acknowledged that Joshua was simply the better fighter and wondered if his first-time stint under trainer Ben Davison was a large factor in that.
“I really have no excuses,” Wallin told Boxing News. “He was just better, I think. He did really well. He used his reach well. He hit me with some really good shots. Yeah, he was just better, I think.
“He hit me with some good body shots. I’m always ready for that, but I think they had a good game plan. I think maybe, I haven’t watched the fight, but … it was a much tougher fight than the one I had with Fury. He did really well. Maybe he has found his home with Ben Davison, I don’t know.”
“I was confident going into the fight, thought that I had a really good chance of winning, but he did a really, really good job, AJ,” Wallin added.
Wallin said he did not disagree with his coach’s decision to stop the fight. Wallin is trained by former two-divisoin champion Joey Gamache.
“I didn’t disagree with him,” Wallin said. “Joey told me that he’s going to stop it and I didn’t say anything. Joey’s been with me for 10 years. He has seen me training, seen me in almost all my fights. He has never pulled me out of anything. I trust Joey. He is always looking out for me. And I feel very happy that I have a trainer that puts my health first. There’s a life after boxing.
“So I’m really appreciative that he’s looking out for me. If you’re a trainer and you see your guy out there when he comes back and looks worse in the corner—I haven’t watched the fight but I trust Joey.”
Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.