Parker and Wallin out to steal the show on Saturday (Picture: Getty)
Ahead of the biggest boxing night of 2023, the groundwork for one of next year’s most spectacular fights has already been laid.
Anthony Joshua vs Deontay Wilder is one of bouts that has been part of the boxing conversation for too long, teasing and frustrating fans for the best part of six years. But Saudi Arabia’s role in the sport has now brought it to the brink of reality. Should they come through their tests in Riyadh this weekend, they are expected to finally meet in the ring in March next year.
Otto Wallin and Joseph Parker stand in their way and could deny us the fight once and for all this weekend.
Wallin, the 6ft 5in giant from the small Swedish city of Sundsvall, is best remembered for his performance against Tyson Fury in 2019, That night, he opened up a huge cut above Fury’s right eye with a well-placed shot that would require 47 stitches to repair the damage.
A blood-splattered Fury won on a wide decision but it didn’t tell the whole story. Had it not been for the fine work of ‘The Gypsy King’s cut man Jorge Capetillo, Wallin would have walked away the winner had the fight been stopped. Since that night, Wallin has been one of the most avoided fighters in the heavyweight division.
‘I have been beating the drum for this fight for a long time and spoke to Eddie Hearn about it on a number of occasions, after the first Oleksandr Usyk fight, after the second Usyk fight,’ Wallin’s promoter Dmitry Salita told Metro.co.uk. ‘It has been in the works for a long time.’
Since the Fury fight, the only defeat of his 27-fight career, Wallin has recorded six victories, the last of which his most impressive to date, outpointing former cruiserweight king Murat Gassiev in Turkey in September.
Wallin warned AJ his past his peak in last month’s press conference (Picture: Getty)
While perhaps not as skilled as the supremely talented Usyk, Wallin fights out of the same southpaw stance that gave Joshua so many problems. Away from the ring, he is a consciousness man, volunteering at an animal shelter in New York having previously worked as a security guard at a psychiatric prison.
In another compelling layer to the fight, there will be another new face in Joshua’s corner on Saturday with Ben Davison taking the reins. Derrick James remains his head trainer but has been in camp with another of his fighters in Ryan Garcia leading into December. Davison will be the fourth trainer Joshua has worked with since parting ways with Rob McCracken after his first defeat to Usyk in September 2021 having also worked with Robert Garcia in that period.
By contrast, Wallin has led a settled life in New York under the guidance of long-term trainer Joey Gamache.
‘When AJ fought Jermaine Franklin [in April], I did see a lot of vulnerabilities,’ Salita continued. ‘But he progressed when he fought Robert Helenius and it did seem like his confidence was coming back. Great fighters are able to reinvent themselves. The fact that he wants to fight someone like Otto Wallin, shows his mind is in the right place.
Wallin went 12 rounds with Fury four years ago (Picture: Getty)
‘But it makes me question things when fighters change trainers too many times. AJ really knows how to fight, he’s one of the best in the world. But there have been a lot of different styles. Ben Davison is one of the top young trainers in the world. But it is a lot of changes. I don’t know too much but that is the only thing that concerns me a little bit.’
Having been briefly knocked out of the world title picture last year, Joshua has been active in his bid to return to the summit of the sport with this his third fight in nine months.
The same cannot be said for Wilder. The Bronze Bomber has fought just once since his trilogy defeat to Fury in October 2021 – his first round demolition job on Robert Helenius in October last year. As impressive as the stoppage was, Wilder has spent just shy of three minutes in a competitive fight in 26 months.
Parker scored a KO in Saudi as recently as October (Picture: Getty)
His opponent Parker is not a man making up the numbers. A former WBO heavyweight champion having beaten Andy Ruiz to win the belt in 2016, he has constantly accepted some of the toughest fights in the division. A knockout defeat to Joe Joyce last year left some questioning his future but under the guidance of Andy Lee, he has rebuilt with three wins in 2023, the latest of which a third round knockout of Simon Kean in Saudi in October.
Still just 31, Parker’s activity could be the defining factor on Saturday.
‘Fighting Simon Kean only two or three weeks ago, you couldn’t get better preparation for Deontay Wilder in terms of similar stance and similar height,’ Lee said earlier this month. ‘That is the key to this fight, activity. Tyson Fury’s performance against Ngannou, a lot of that was down to inactivity.
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‘Three wins this year and this will be Joe’s fourth fight this year, compared to Deontay Wilder who has only had one round since October 2021, so that’s one of the reasons I thought this was the right time to fight Deontay Wilder.’
Fury and Usyk will finally meet in their bout to crown the division’s first undisputed champion since Lennox Lewis on 17 February with early reports suggesting Joshua vs Wilder could be pencilled just three weeks later on 9 March.
As stacked as it is, this weekend’s card has been designed to tee us up for that fight in 2024. Wallin and Parker will have other ideas.
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Joshua vs Wilder looks to be agreed but they first met get through Saturday’s fights unscathed.