Former two-time world heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua, delivered one of his best fights since 2018 after beating Otto Wallin in the fifth round through a technical knockout in a non-title fight in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in the early hours of Sunday.
After victories over Jermaine Franklin and Robert Helenius earlier this year, the Nigerian-born British boxer knew he needed to win the fight to keep alive his dream of challenging for another world title and end the year on a high note.
The win over Wallin means Joshua has won three fights in 2023.
Joshua was aggressive and dominated the fight from the first round and kept on landing punches to Wallin as the 33-year-old Swedish boxer struggled to gain balance.
In the fifth round, Joshua landed a right followed by a big left hook that left Wallin staggering across the ring.
With blood streaming from various wounds, Wallin’s corner called the fight off before the start of the sixth round.
The victory took the 34-year-old Joshua’s professional record to 27 wins and three defeats.
“Just another fight,” Joshua told DAXN.
“I respect Otto. Not so much a throwback fight, just another day in the office. Victory by any means. Like Otto, you want to do whatever it takes to be victorious. That’s all I want to be.”
“What I want to do is just be victorious as long as I can,” Joshua said in the post-fight interview. “I’m searching for greatness, trying to improve.”
But plans for a huge fight with Deontay Wilder in 2024 have been derailed after New Zealander former world champion Joseph Parker defeated the American.
Anthony Joshua was then asked about Deontay Wilder, who he was supposed to fight in March, but who had lost to Joseph Parker earlier in the evening. “I’m going to take the higher ground,” said Joshua, “and I hope he (Wilder) comes back.”
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