American heavyweight boxer Jarrell Miller has warned Anthony Joshua, a former heavyweight champion, not to underestimate Otto Wallin ahead of their December fight.
Joshua will fight Wallin on the same card as Deontay Wilder vs Joseph Parker on December 23 in Saudi Arabia.
Wallin has a record of 26-1 and he has recorded some impressive victories over fighters such as Murat Gassiev and Dominic Breazeale.
But, perhaps the most impressive fight of his career came in his only defeat when he pushed Tyson Fury all the way, leaving him with a nasty cut, before losing on points.
Wallin is also a southpaw, the same stance as Oleksandr Usyk, that Joshua struggled with in their two fights.
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As such, Miller believes that Wallin could present a tough test for Joshua, telling SecondsOut: “I feel honestly that ‘AJ’ might have made a mistake with picking Otto Wallin.
“Even though Otto Wallin is not a one-punch knockout kind of guy, he is durable, he comes to fight, he is not a quitter and it is going to be a tough fight for ‘AJ’. I don’t think that it is going to be easy at all.”
Miller continued: “The mental mind state that ‘AJ’ has, is he going to hold up?
“When he fights in the UK, he has a little more oomph in his step a little bit, but when he fights outside of the UK, we don’t get the same fiery person, the playing ground is going to be a little bit more even out in Saudi.
“I wish all of the luck to Otto Wallin, I want to be the one to knock out ‘AJ’, but may the best man win, it is what it is.”
With that being said, what Miller says about AJ has to be taken with a pinch of salt, as the pair share a mutual dislike for each other.
They were supposed to fight back in 2019 before it was cancelled due to Miller testing positive for multiple banned substances, but this was not before both men had a chance to start a beef.
They almost came to blows in the build-up and even more recently at the press conference for the December 23 event that Miller will also be fighting on, they threw a few insults back and forth.
