![Otto Wallin and Anthony Joshua - Otto Wallin: Anthony Joshua now fights not to lose – he used to fight to win](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/boxing/2023/12/18/TELEMMGLPICT000356836155_17029191934080_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqejI1gRHJsOsGt35KcRG675gojZYlP8f0i9h2tPqCNsM.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Otto Wallin: Anthony Joshua now fights not to lose – he used to fight to win
Swede cut Tyson Fury's eye in 2019 and thinks he can make make his British opponent on Saturday more than uncomfortable in Saudi Arabia
![Otto Wallin and Anthony Joshua - Otto Wallin: Anthony Joshua now fights not to lose – he used to fight to win](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/boxing/2023/12/18/TELEMMGLPICT000356836155_17029191934080_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqejI1gRHJsOsGt35KcRG675gojZYlP8f0i9h2tPqCNsM.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Anthony Joshua’s best laid plans of a 2024 showdown with Deontay Wilder could go up in smoke at the hands of Otto Wallin this weekend. And Wallin is firmly of the belief that the former two-time world champion Joshua is now scared of losing and no longer fights to win.
The New York-based Swede shot to fame when he cut Tyson Fury’s eye in a Las Vegas bout, leaving the world champion requiring 47 stitches in a gash above his right eye in a fight that was trickier for Fury than many expected.
Wallin’s case that he can beat Joshua on Saturday night is as much built on his opponent’s weaknesses as as his own strengths, having fought him twice the amateur ranks.
“I think we’re both different, those were very early on in our careers in 2008 or 2009, and then the next time 2011,” Wallin tells Telegraph Sport.
“We’ve both developed a lot. I remember him back then – he was more of a seek and destroy kind of guy, he was strong, aggressive, and came to fight. I think now he’s different, he’s more technical, he’s not as sure of himself, I think he feels that he’s vulnerable, he’s been beaten by Andy Ruiz of course, and beaten by Usyk, so he’s very aware now and he knows that he’s vulnerable, he knows that he can lose, and I feel like he’s fighting now not to lose, instead of fighting to win.”
Wallin insists Joshua is scarred by his defeats, and that changing trainer to Ben Davidson is a sign of weakness. “He is [scarred]. I think that it was a mistake for them to take this fight, and on short notice. He’s got a new trainer, and it’s hard when you keep changing trainers. I’ve never done it but I know that I’ve been with my trainers for 10 years now, both of them, and we have a really good relationship. We trust each other in and out the ring. I think it’s different if you have a new trainer all the time.
“He is vulnerable and I think before when he was coming up he was knocking everybody out, he probably felt like superman and everybody loved him, and then he lost and people started to turn on him, so I think that’s really hard and I think he has too much pressure on his shoulders and I think that’s really what’s bringing him down.”
![Joshua punched in the head](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/boxing/2023/12/18/TELEMMGLPICT000358273052_17029194231970_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqjPAKgJRxicfimPcewMJ7fP4Xpit_DMGvdp2n7FDd82k.jpeg?imwidth=350)
Wallin, 6ft5in tall, and fighting out of the southpaw stance, did not hold back when the pair came face to face at the pre-event press conference in London.
“We were going back and forth a little bit, I was telling him I like you but I’ve got to beat you – nothing personal – I think he takes things kind of personal and then he was asking about my business,” Wallin explains. “I couldn’t really hear what he was saying, but at the end he said that after the fight ‘don’t come and try and shake my hand cause we’re not going to be shaking hands after’, I said ‘don’t worry about it, I’m not here to make friends, I’m here to beat you’.”
‘I’ve never heard of a card like it’
Saturday night’s card in Saudi Arabia is almost unprecedented in the depth of quality with Wilder v Joseph Parker fighting before Joshua-Wallin, with the likes of Britons Daniel Dubois and Lyndon Arthur also on show.
“I’ve never heard of a boxing card like this and they made it happen so quickly, in like a week they put it all together which I found unbelievable. And to be part of this is just something that I could never have dreamed of,” the 33-year-old says of the ‘Day of Reckoning’ card.
“When I first started boxing, professional boxing was forbidden in Sweden. Fighting my way here from a small village and now fighting on this big card against Anthony Joshua, it’s just amazing and it’s been quite a journey. I feel I deserve it, and I’m ready.”
Wallin believes he can take the Joshua fight down the stretch, which will make Joshua “more and more uncomfortable”.
“If he comes out and tries to box, it’s going to be hard for him. I think even if he comes out being aggressive then he’s going to start getting hit and start to doubt himself,” says Wallin.
“I know he doesn’t like getting hit, he cares a lot about what people think about him and how he looks winning fights, so if he comes out being aggressive he might hit me but I’m going to hit him too and it’s going to turn into a war, and I don’t think that he’s ready for that, I think that he’s too fragile to do that, so I think it’s going to be really interesting. I think it’s going to be a great fight, two very good styles. Especially in this fight, I feel like I have nothing to lose.”
- ‘Day of Reckoning’, Saturday 23rd December, as part of Riyadh season, will be available live on TNT Sports Box Office and DAZN.