Anthony Joshua and Otto Wallin will square off in a 12-round heavyweight fight on Saturday, December 23 at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
In a bout in which Wallin (26-1, 14 KOs) nearly prevailed by cutting Tyson Fury over the right eye, Wallin was defeated by decision in September 2019. Wallin, a 33-year old boxer from Sweden has won six straight fights since that time.
“I am coming off a great win, best win of my life, and now right back in there to fight AJ. I think I’m in a really good place and he is not at his peak. He is coming off a good win against Helenius but he was supposed to win that. I think I am in a really good position and I don’t think the same for him. I am going to do whatever it takes to win. I have been working for this my whole life and I am ready for it,” said Wallin in media reports.
Joshua (26-3, 23 KOs) is making his third bout of the year after defeating Robert Helenius in August and Jermaine Franklin Jr. in April. In September 2021, he was defeated by Oleksandr Usyk for the WBA, WBO, and IBF world titles, and Joshua, 34, from England was unable to win them back in the rematch a year later.
Hasim Rahman Jr.(12-2, 6KOs), the former heavyweight world champion, has questioned Anthony Joshua’s choice to fight Otto Wallin. “I don’t really understand why Joshua took that fight, that’s really not a fight that I think you can look good in,” said Rahman Jr. in media reports.
“That is one of them trap fights. I’m going to be watching that fight because Wallin is definitely a guy that can make you look bad. I think he [Joshua] will win, I just don’t think that it is set up for him to shine. Joshua has cruised to victories over Jermaine Franklin and Robert Helenius this year – and sees Wallin as a stepping stone to a third reign as world champion,” he added.
“It’s going to be a really good time to go to Saudi. It’s going to be big, we haven’t seen a card like this before,” he continued.
