The legendary Roy Jones Jr has been looking ahead to Anthony Joshua’s fight with Otto Wallin on December 23.
This will be Joshua’s third fight this year – his highest level of activity since 2016. It is part of a huge night of action that also features Joseph Parker versus Deontay Wilder and Daniel Dubois versus Jarrell Miller.
Should Joshua win, he will be well-placed to fight for a third world title shot in 2024, if not against long-time rival Wilder.
Speaking to ActionNetwork about Joshua-Wallin and Wilder-Parker, former four-weight champion Jones initially said Parker was the biggest threat for an upset.
“The biggest threat in either of those fights is Joe Parker because if he can figure out Deontay Wilder’s right hand, Joe Parker can really pull off the upset against Wilder, and because he has good boxing skills, he can be a real problem against Wilder who is very one dimensional.
“He can be quite easy to deal with. Parker brings more jeopardy to Deontay than Wallin brings to Joshua because if AJ is right and his mind’s right, he’s a much better fighter.”
He then went on to assess Wallis’s chances but didn’t hold out much hope for the southpaw, much like Johnny Nelson who has said similar.
“Wallin is also a good fighter but AJ has got another gear in him that Wallin may not have. I haven’t seen enough from Wallin to suggest he can beat AJ.”
“I don’t think Wallin is a banana skin, I think if Joshua comes prepared he’ll be ok, but if he doesn’t come prepared then there’s a problem, like when Fury didn’t come prepared for Ngannou. But I am expecting Joshua to deal with Wallin.”