Otto Wallin is keen on a showdown with Anthony Joshua at the end of the year.
The Swedish heavyweight has thrown his name into the hat to face the Brit after he was beaten by Oleksandr Usyk again last weekend.
Joshua lost an inexplicable split decision to the Ukrainian southpaw on Saturday as he looked to become a three-time unified heavyweight world champion.
Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) retained the WBA Super, IBF, IBO and WBO titles against the 32-year-old at the Jeddah Superdome in Saudi Arabia.
And while Usyk, who added the vacant Ring Magazine bauble to his collection with the win, is targeting Tyson Fury for a potential undisputed showdown, Olympic gold medal-winning former amateur star Joshua – who was taking on Usyk having been dethroned by him in their first fight at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London last September – has stated that he wants to make a quick return to the ring.
After a bizarre post-fight rant, Joshua told the media in the post-fight press conference:
“So, I spoke to Eddie and I asked if it was possible to get out in November because I think momentum is important in boxing.
“About who I fight: come one and come all, I will fight anybody.”
And Wallin, who took on the aforementioned Fury at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas back in 2019, is eager for a clash against Joshua with the Finchley fighter eager to rebuild and move back into title contention.
He told OLBG:
“I think it makes a lot of sense for me and Joshua to fight each other. People in the UK know me for giving Fury one of his toughest fights in his career and I get a lot of support from over there
I’m always training and trying to get better and I can’t wait to go over to the UK and earn my right for another shot at Fury by beating Anthony Joshua.”
And those sentiments have been echoed by Dmitriy Salita, Wallin’s promoter, who had praised Joshua’s new trainer Robert Garcia when speaking to Lord Ping.
He said:
“Based on this performance, it looks like Anthony Joshua has got a lot of big fights left.
The one that makes the most sense as the next one is Otto Wallin, especially if Tyson fights Usyk in December.
Joshua did a great job, he is still improving as a fighter [and it] looks like Robert Garcia and the rest of the team helped breathe new life into him.”