Anthony Joshua delivers old-school performance in knockout win and gives heavyweight some...

What a difference a single night at the office made for former unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua on Saturday, who went from damaged goods in the eyes of his harshest critics to a rejuvenated threat to the undisputed title.

Joshua (27-3, 24 KOs), who had lost three times in his previous seven bouts amid a flurry of head trainer switches, looked like the destructive AJ of old as he walked down and finished former title challenger Otto Wallin (26-2, 14 KOs) in the main event of a star-studded “Day of Reckoning” pay-per-view card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Even with Deontay Wilder’s lifeless upset loss to former WBO titleholder Joseph Parker in the co-main event, which likely canceled a proposed two-fight deal for Joshua, the 34-year-old British superstar found his mojo again and suddenly has no shortage of huge options as he awaits the February meeting between champions Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury for the undisputed crown.

For anyone who had watched Joshua’s mannerisms and interviews closely in the build to his fifth-round TKO, which ended when Wallin’s corner refused to let him come up off his stool with a busted nose between rounds, the result was a far cry from the expectation.

Joshua, who lost his titles in a pair of decision defeats to Usyk over the past two years, was everything from moody to defensive in each interview. He even paid to sit in isolated darkness for four days at a retreat, which was only hailed by critics as a red flag to the possible identity crisis Joshua had undergone publicly ever since his upset loss to late replacement Andy Ruiz in 2019.

Even the pair of victories Joshua recorded after the Usyk defeats — against Jermaine Franklin and Robert Helenius — were uninspired enough to produce more negative reviews than positive ones as Joshua acted gun shy and defensive, even up to the seconds before he brutally finished Helenius in Round 7.

The biggest disconnect appeared to be mental for Joshua, who still had the chiseled physique of an NFL linebacker at 6-foot-6 and an athletic combination of speed and power but was unable to find the confidence to let his hands go as willingly as he did throughout initial four-year title reign that led up to the Ruiz loss.

It wasn’t as if Joshua was ever a perfect heavyweight without any hiccups or technical flaws. He was always a bit too boxy with questionable stamina and a chin that was deemed vulnerable dating back to his dramatic 2015 knockout of amateur rival Dillian Whyte, in the penultimate fight before his first title victory. But the two main things the 2012 Olympic gold medalist did have were guts and fight-ending power, along with an ability to rise to the occasion in dramatic moments when the lights were the brightest — like when he got off the canvas to finish former champion Wladimir Klitschko in their 2017 superfight in front of