The rehabilitation of Anthony Joshua continues in Saudi Arabia this weekend.
The two-time unified heavyweight champion takes on the avoided Swedish southpaw, Otto Wallin, as part of the mammoth ‘Day of Reckoning’ card.
Joshua trained under Derrick James in Dallas for his fights with Jermaine Franklin and Robert Helenius and the way he committed to his attack and finished Helenius showed clear signs that the partnership was beginning to reap dividends.
Joshua has spent the past couple of years seemingly caught between styles but it looked like James had persuaded him to once again trust his instincts.
However, Joshua, has decided on a change of tack for the fight with Wallin and has prepared with Ben Davison, one of the most analytical trainers in the sport.
Joshua’s clash with Wallin shares top billing on this weekend’s mammoth card with Deontay Wilder’s fight with Joseph Parker.
If both Joshua and Wilder come through their relative assignments unscathed, all signs point towards an eagerly awaited shoot-out between the long-term rivals finally taking place in the first half of 2024.
With a lucrative, career defining fight looming large, former super middleweight champion, Carl Froch, feels like Joshua’s team could have found a more suitable opponent than the underrated Swede.
“I wouldn’t say it’s the perfect fight because if he’s trying to set up for the fight with Deontay Wilder, [why] go for a southpaw?” the Hall of Famer said on TNT’s “Heavyweight Debate”.
“I don’t think the Otto Wallin fight is perfect for him because one, he’s a southpaw and two, he lost to Tyson Fury in September 2019, he’s on a winning streak of six fights unbeaten. He beat [Murat] Gassiev in his last fight. This is a guy who’s quality. The quality of opponent at this level for – it’s not a mark time fight – but it’s a keep busy fight before the big one, the big money fight out in Saudi with Deontay Wilder. For me, it’s a bit risky and it’s a fight that could go wrong for him.
“Maybe that’s what he needs because we do need to see more out of Anthony Joshua before the Wilder fight, otherwise he’ll go into the Wilder fight and get wiped out in my opinion.”