Former super-middleweight champion, Carl Froch, has reassessed his view on the upcoming heavyweight showdown between Anthony Joshua and Otto Wallin.
In undoubtedly one of the biggest boxing cards in years, Joshua will top the bill against the Swedish southpaw.
On initially hearing about the matchup, Froch expressed his ‘disappointment’ and expected ‘AJ’ to breeze past the 32-year-old – but on further reflection ‘The Cobra’ has since heaped praise on Wallin’s capabilities.
“We’ve got Anthony Joshua against Otto Wallin, it’s not a bad fight actually, better than what I first thought when I first heard about it.
I’m going to be totally honest, when I first heard it I thought ‘easy fight for AJ’, not a journeyman fight but a fight he’s expected to win. But Otto Walling is very capable, let’s not forget. He went the distance with Tyson Fury, he gave him a fight, he hurt him. Tyson Fury’s a great fighter, he’s gone 12 rounds with a top heavyweight. He’s also just recently beat Gassiev, have a look at his career, mainly a cruiserweight, but what a fighter he is.
His only loss is Fury, so if he comes and fancies the job and sticks it on Anthony Joshua, the way AJ has been performing lately and being quite tentative in his previous fights, he’s got a chance.”
Froch still makes Joshua the favourite in the fight, but says if he doesn’t show up on the night it could be ‘game over’ for his career.
“I do think Otto Wallin has got a chance against Joshua. AJ is quite negative and is a bit nervous. If Otto Walling believes in himself and he sticks it on Anthony Joshua, it could be game over for AJ. If he doesn’t rise to the occasion and meet Wallin with aggression then this could go wrong.
I think Wallin does have a chance, I make AJ a 65/35 favourite, but Wallin has definitely got a chance, so don’t rule anything out, this could be a massive upset.”
Joshua and Wallin will be joined by the likes of Deontay Wilder, Joseph Parker, Dmitry Bivol, Daniel Dubois, Jarrell Miller, Jai Opetaia and Filip Hrgovic for a historic night of boxing on December 23 in Saudi Arabia.