Otto Wallin is certain that he’ll face a much more vulnerable version of Anthony Joshua on Saturday night than the once-confident, undefeated knockout artist that tore through most of his opponents before Andy Ruiz Jr. upset him 4½ years ago.
The Swedish southpaw sees a former heavyweight champion susceptible to getting knocked off again, at least according to oddsmakers who favor Joshua by a 4-1 margin, when they meet in the 12-round main event of a stacked pay-per-view show at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Joshua reportedly will face another former heavyweight champion, Deontay Wilder, on March 9 if Joshua beats Wallin and Wilder defeats ex-WBO champ Joseph Parker in the co-feature Saturday night.
Wallin (26-1, 14 KOs, 1 NC) intends to ruin that plan by becoming the third opponent and second southpaw to beat Joshua (26-3, 23 KOs).
“There has been a decline,” Wallin told BoxingScene.com. “My feeling is he’s the same physically, but not the same mentally. He’s very unsure of himself. He doubts himself and I think that comes from the feeling of him being vulnerable. I think that when he started out, he was knocking people out. He was hurt a few times, but he came back and knocked people out. Then he lost to Ruiz, he’s lost twice to Usyk and he hasn’t been the same.
“I think it comes from him being vulnerable. He realized he can also lose. When he came up, everything happened so quick. He won the Olympics, of course, became pro, did really well and won a title. And so, I think that when he first started out, he didn’t know any better. But now he knows better. He knows that he’s vulnerable and I think that’s been tough for him.”
After suffering back-to-back decision defeats to Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs), the 34-year-old Joshua has won his two fights in 2023. The former IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO champion comfortably beat American Jermaine Franklin (22-2, 14 KOs) on points April 1 at O2 Arena in London and returned to that venue to knock out Finland’s Robert Helenius (32-5, 21 KOs) in the seventh round August 12.
The 33-year-old Wallin wasn’t overly impressed with either of those two wins by the 2012 Olympic gold medalist. He still sees a fighter who won’t completely commit because Joshua remembers what happened when Ruiz dropped him four times and stopped him in the seventh round of their June 2019 fight at Madison Square Garden in New York.
“My way of looking at it is he’s very careful,” Wallin said. “He’s scared to get hit. He’s scared to get hurt and stopped again. I feel like he’s fighting more now not to lose than fighting to win. That’s really what I feel. He’s very aware and vulnerable.”
Wallin, meanwhile, is fresh off the most noteworthy win of his 10-year professional career. The 6-foot-5, 240-pound Wallin, who is most known for testing Tyson Fury in a 12-round unanimous points loss in September 2019, defeated former IBF/WBA cruiserweight champ Murat Gassiev (30-2, 23 KOs) by split decision in his last fight, a 12-rounder September 30 at Regnum Carya, a resort in Antalya, Turkey.
Joshua-Wallin will headline an eight-bout card backed by The General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia. This pay-per-view show costs $39.99 and is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. ET and 8 a.m. PT in the United States.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.