Joshua Beats Wallin As Parker Floors Wilder In Saudi Arabia

Anthony Joshua produced a dominant performance to earn a technical knockout win over Otto Wallin in Saudi Arabia on Saturday night.

Joshua was at his best to brush aside Wallin inside the distance for his third consecutive win.

Wallin’s corner demanded for the end of the bout after the fifth round due to the superiority of the Nigerian-Briton boxer.

In the other bout of the night, which involved Joseph Parker and Deontay Wilder, there was a shocking result as the less fancied Parker floored, overwhelming, favourite Wilder.

Parker was declared winner after the judges awarded a unanimous decision scoring it 118-111, 118-110, and 120-108 in his favour.

The organizers in Saudi Arabia were already planning for a Wilder and Joshua bout in 2024, but Parker had other ideas with his exceptional performance.

He was always on top of his game, and Wilder struggled to deal with his punches.

Anthony Joshua has hailed Wallin and revealed that his focus was to win the bout.

Joshua said: “I respect Otto. Throughout the whole buildup, I was telling everyone I needed to focus on the man in front of me because I respected what he’s bringing to the table. Not so much a throwback fight, just another day in the office.”

Joshua also shed more light on his approach for the bout.

“Well, victory by any means,” Joshua says. “So when I pray, one of the things I know is that every cell, my spirit, my mind is leading towards victory. And like with Otto, we just want to do whatever it takes to be victorious because in this game, it’s a treacherous business. It’s like snakes and ladders. One win gets you up the ladder, and a [loss] takes you all the way back down. So all I want to do is just be victorious for as long as I can.”

According to his promoter, Eddie Hearn, Joshua is likely to battle Croatia’s Filip Hrgovic for a vacant IBF world title.

Joshua bounced back in style after losing to Oleksandr Usyk in August 2022 to win his last three bouts.

He was victorious against Jermaine Franklin via unanimous decision. He defeated Robert Helenius by knockout, and now Wallin has been added to the list.

Joshua has now improved his professional record by 27 wins (24 by knock out) and three defeats in 30 bouts.