Anthony Joshua has had a target on his back this week.
The stars have gathered for the ‘Day of Reckoning’ card in Saudi Arabia but there is little doubt that Joshua has been the center of attention.
Almost every question from the camera carrying press pack centers around Joshua and his future, his fellow heavyweights seem to stick the boot into the two-time unified champion every time a microphone is placed in front of them, amateur psychologists and body language analysts pour over every gesture he makes or answer he gives and after he suffered consecutive defeats to Oleksandr Usyk, some boxing experts openly question whether he will be able to deal with the underrated Swedish southpaw, Otto Wallin, on Saturday night.
Now, Joshua is undoubtedly a more vulnerable figure inside and outside the ring than the unstoppable force who dramatically came apart at the hands of Andy Ruiz in 2019. His rivals have smelt blood and will use every tactic to try and unsettle a man they suddenly see as fragile and beatable target. The press, of course, get their spoons out and continue to stir the pot, the quotes and drama racking up easy video views. It is all totally understandable.
There should be some perspective used when it comes to the matter of Wallin, however.
Joshua has operated on a different plane to Wallin throughout his career. Usyk has proven himself a once in a generation talent and although he lost both fights, Joshua performed well in their rematch. Wallin may be a southpaw but he is bigger, less mobile and more aggressive than the counter punching Ukrainian and Joshua should find the Swede much easier to hit and far simpler to read. Far from dreading the prospect, Joshua had no worries about stepping into the ring with another southpaw.
“No. none at all. My goal is to turn what some would call a negative and look it at – from my perspective – as how can I turn it into a positive,” he said on the DAZN One to One show. “The lessons I’ve learned from previous competitions against southpaws, I can take into this preparations and know how to get better. So no, none at all. I can only get better from what I’ve been through to where I’m gonna be on December 23rd.”
After training with Derrick James in Dallas for his last two fights, Joshua has prepared for Wallin with Ben Davison. Rumors are getting stronger that Joshua and long time rival Deontay Wilder – who boxes Joseph Parker on Saturday – will fight in March whether they both win, lose or draw this weekend. That may well be the case but Joshua will know that he can’t afford to enter a fight with the dangerous Wilder on the back of a damaging, shock defeat to Wallin.
The ‘Day of Reckoning’ card was put together on relatively short notice and – in an ideal world – Joshua would have probably preferred a few more weeks to work with Davison but he is ten year veteran of the sport and spent the best part of two years working with southpaws as preparation for Usyk. Maybe it is an overlooked sign of confidence that he isn’t concerned about the short camp.
“It’s tough but I’m tough anyway,” he said. “I’m rough, I’m ready. That’s my perception of myself so that’s why I’m here. It wasn’t about, ‘If you fight this date, this will be your reward.’ It was more, ‘I’ve got a date’ and I was like, thankfully. I said I wanted to fight three times this year and I get to fulfil what my vision was at the start of the year so I’m looking forward to it for sure. Regardless of how long I had.”