Otto Wallin has a fair insight into what Tyson Fury brings to the ring and has now used that information to make a prediction about his next fight.
Wallin and Fury squared off in the ring back in 2019. The Swedish southpaw posed plenty of problems for ‘The Gypsy King’ and opened a savage cut above his right eye that needed tens of stitches after the fight. It was a full 12-rounder that ended in a loss for Wallin but since then he has pushed on with good wins over the likes of Murat Gassiev and Dominic Breazeale.
Speaking to talkSPORT Boxing, Wallin was asked who would win when Fury has his undisputed match-up with Oleksandr Usyk on February 17 and sided with his former foe.
“I think that Fury, I still have him as the favourite. He didn’t look great last time out, but he’s a very good fighter Fury, he’s a big guy, bigger than Usyk. But Usyk’s going to give him a very good fight I feel.”
Wallin then cast doubt over Usyk’s ability to take a body shot.
“But at the same time Usyk, his last fight he really got knocked out by Dubois. I feel that was a legal blow Dubois hit him with. He was just on the floor complaining about it. In the Gassiev fight, he complained about body shots and I think that’s his weakness, and I think Fury knows that.”
Wallin has a huge fight coming up himself when he faces Anthony Joshua on December 23 on the same card as Deontay Wilder, Joseph Parker, Daniel Dubois, Jarrell Miller, Dmiri Bivol Lyndon Arthur and several more. It will be their first match-up as professionals, though they have fought twice as amateurs with Joshua winning both.