Joshua battles Wallin in Saudi Arabia

Anthony Joshua is set to continue his comeback with his third fight of 2023 and will be keen to get another victory when he faces Swedish heavyweight Otto Wallin on Saturday (today) in the main event of the “Day of Reckoning” card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Saturday PUNCH reports.

After securing consecutive victories over Jermaine Franklin in April and Robert Helenius with a seventh-round knockout in August, Joshua is now gearing up to face a tough challenge in Wallin, who has proven himself as a formidable opponent, especially with his southpaw stance.The only defeat on Wallin’s record to date came in 2019 against Tyson Fury, in between the Gypsy King’s first and second meetings with Wilder. Fury won by unanimous decision but the Swedish heavyweight certainly made it a harder night than expected for the lineal champ.The southpaw opened up a huge cut above the Brit’s right eye in the third round. In the sixth round, a doctor had to inspect it and allowed Fury to carry on.

Joshua holds an impressive record of 26 victories and three losses, two of those defeats coming against unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk. The British-Nigerian has proven that he has remarkable strength, technique, and unwavering determination and is the favourite to win this tricky tie.

The fight also holds great significance beyond the clash date as Joshua and Deontay Wilder need to beat Wallin and Joseph Parker respectively this weekend to make their potential clash in 2024 possible.

As for Wilder he will be taking on former WBO heavyweight world champion Parker, having only had one fight, which lasted one round, since October 2021. Meanwhile, Parker has fought three times this year, winning all three and he is determined to spoil the party and upset Wilder.

Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, echoed concerns about the challenges posed by Wallin’s southpaw style but expresses faith in his fighter.

When we say he has an issue with a southpaw, he had an issue with Oleksandr Usyk, who is a pound-for-pound number one, maybe. But Wallin’s good. They’ve sparred rounds before. AJ beat him in the amateurs, it’s a long time ago, yeah, but really, ideally, you don’t really want to be fighting a southpaw, but you should be dealing with Otto Wallin.

“And we have enough faith in AJ’s ability to take that fight, win that fight, but it will be tricky. And he has to be aggressive in that fight. I believe he will stop him,” he said.

Former undisputed cruiserweight and heavyweight world champion, Evander Holyfield believes that if the fight goes the distance, it’ll go Joshua’s way saying, “Well, (Joshua) got the range. It appears to me that when people don’t pressure him, he gets his shots off then he wins.

“I don’t think he stands pressure real well, but if it’s a distance fight and they keep their measurements, he’s going to outpoint him.”

Wilder weighed in on the impending bout, stressing the importance of Joshua’s mental state.