Otto Wallin has given his verdict on Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury (Image: Getty)
Otto Wallin has named Anthony Joshua as a tougher opponent than WBC world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. Wallin, 33, was stopped by AJ, 34, in the fifth round in Saudi Arabia last month, with the Brit on a mission to reclimb the heavyweight mountain.
Joshua made lightwork of rival Fury’s old foe, who has now weighed in on who was the tougher fight. “Well, I would say that this fight with Joshua was a lot tougher than the fight I had with Fury,” Wallin said after his defeat to Joshua.
“It’s hard to say. I think that Fury’s a very good fighter. Can probably pick it up from what he was doing in his last fight. It’s a decent fight. We’ll see what happens with Joshua now.
“He might be on to something really good with Ben Davison, and Ben obviously knows Tyson. I don’t know. There’s a lot of variables. I always said that Fury would win that fight, but now just being in with Joshua, I feel a little bit different. It’s hard to go against Tyson I think. But, I don’t know, it’s changed my mind a bit after this fight.”
Wallin lost to both Fury and Joshua (Image: Getty)
The convincing win for Joshua has the Brit on course to fight for a world title in the next couple of years. Joshua is expected to look to fight for a vacant world title in the first half of 2024. This would be made possible because of Fury’s proposed unification fight with Oleksandr Usyk next year. Due to the rematch clause, at least one of the belts could be stripped in the aftermath.
Should a world heavyweight title fight not come up, Joshua has kept the door open to a slugfest with Deontay Wilder, who was defeated on the same card last month in the Middle East. Former WBC world heavyweight champ Wilder was beaten via unanimous decision by Fury’s longtime friend, Joseph Parker.
Wallin cut Fury open and gave the unbeaten Gypsy King a scare (Image: Getty)
“I’m not too sure what can happen from here,” AJ started in his post-fight press conference. “But I’m sure from a fan perspective, they’ll be more annoyed. For me, I always understand how this game is: You never know. This is elite-level boxing.
“Wilder just came up short but he’ll live to fight another day. Me and him could still get it on, we could still get it cracking. I believe I’m a massive threat, I still think Wilder’s a threat and I still think it does amazing numbers if we get it on. But I’ll leave that down to my management, trainers, promoters to make that decision – I’m down to fight anyone whenever, and whoever.”