Otto Wallin has been speaking ahead of his huge clash with British heavyweight Anthony Joshua.
This fight will be Joshua’s third of the year – a feat he hasn’t managed since 2016. He is still working his way back to the top after back-to-back defeats to Oleksandr Usyk in 2021 and 2022 that left him without any of his three world titles.
In 2023 he has beaten Jermaine Franklin over 12 rounds on points and Robert Helenius by knockout.
Wallin is a Swedish southpaw most well-known for pushing Fury hard over 12 rounds back in 2019, including inflicting a huge cut above his eye. He has since secured solid wins over Murat Gassiev and Dominic Breazeale.
The pair will come head to head on December 23 on a huge card in Saudi Arabia and, in the lead-up to that, Wallin spoke to VegasInsider about the fight’s rematch clause.
“If it was just up to me, it wouldn’t be there, of course. I can’t say I was particularly happy about it.”
He did admit it was a calculated risk, however.
“If I beat Anthony Joshua twice, I should be in line to fight for pretty much any title. I’m currently in a really good position in the IBF, so I could have waited and maybe fought for the IBF title, but we got this opportunity that we felt was really good, and if I beat Anthony Joshua once I can beat him again.”
Joshua is currently settling in with a new coach for this fight – Ben Davison will be his fourth trainer in five fights, which Wallin has said is a big mistake. It’s understood that ‘AJ’ intends to return to Derrick James thereafter.