By Ian S Palmer
Original article: https://www.sportsbetlistings.com/boxing/anthony-joshua-vs-otto-wallin-betting-odds-and-prediction/22467/
Former Heavyweight Titlist Anthony Joshua of Watford, England steps back into the ring this Saturday, December 23rd to take on Swedish southpaw Otto Wallin. The 12-rounder will go held in Saudi Arabia and can be seen live in most nations on DAZN pay-per-view. Irish and UK fans can also buy it on TNT Sports Box Office. Joshua last fought in August when he stopped Robert Helenius in the seventh round while Walling beat Murat Gassiev by a controversial 12-round split decision in September.
The 34-year-old Joshua is a former 2012 Olympic gold medalist who won the IBF Title in his 16th pro bout by stopping Charles Martin in the second round in 2016. He enters the fight with a record of 26-3 with 23 Ko’s. He ended his first 14 pro bouts and 16 of his first 18 within the first three rounds and 88.5 per cent of his wins have come by stoppage. He’s gone the distance in four of his last six fights though and lost three of the past seven.
Joshua stopped Wladimir Klitschko in the 11th round in 2017 to win the WBA title and vacant IBO Crown. He added the WBO Belt with a unanimous decision win over Joseph Parker the next year but lost them all in 2019 when Andy Ruiz stopped him in the seventh round in Joshua’s first fight outside of the UK. He beat Ruiz by unanimous decision in their rematch though six months later to regain the titles. Joshua defended them once by stopping Kubrat Pulev in the ninth round a year later and lost them again when he ran into Oleksandr Usyk in September, 2021 and lost the rematch 11 months later by unanimous and split decisions respectively.
Joshua has also beaten Carlos Takam, Alexander Povetkin, Eric Molina, Dominic Breazeale, Dillian Whyte and Kevin Johnson along the way. His chin has always been a bit of a question mark and his power hasn’t been quite as evident lately. Klitschko had him down and apparently out in the sixth round in 2017, but Joshua came back and stopped him. However, he was dropped four times by Ruiz in their first fight and rocked a couple of times by Usyk. Joshua turned pro in 2013 and has 155 rounds under his belt since.
He’s a good-sized heavyweight by today’s standards as he stands 6-feet-6-inches tall with an 82-inch reach. Joshua is arguably a bit too muscle bound though, but possesses pretty good boxing skills even if he is a bit robotic. He has decent mobility and upper body movement as well as a stiff jab but usually tries to stay away from slugfests if possible these days while he attempts to box his opponents and use his size to advantage.
Joshua now tries to avoid going toe-to-toe and box, such as he did in the rematch with Ruiz, since he has the habit of losing his legs when getting nailed on the chin. Of course, he also has to stand his ground and fight back when tested though so this has proven to be a bit of a dilemma for him. He’ll try using his jab and nailing Wallin on his way in with something solid whenever he sees an opening but will definitely go after him if he feels he’s hurt.
Wallin is a 33-year-old southpaw who hails from Sundsvall, Sweden and carries around an impressive record of 26-1 with 14 Ko’s. He now fights out of New York City and has boxed 157 rounds since making his pro debut back in 2013 after a mediocre amateur career. He’s also a good-sized heavyweight as he stands just over 6-feet-5-inches tall with a reach of 78 inches, which means he’s just half-an-inch shorter than Joshua but gives up four inches in reach. Wallin has decent power in his punches as 53.9 per cent of his wins have come by stoppage.
However he’s gone the distance in seven of his last eight fights including five in a row. One of the biggest problems with Wallin here is the quality of opponents he’s faced so far. That being said, he did give Tyson Fury all he could handle in September, 2019 in his only pro loss. He cut Fury up for 47 stitches along the way but dropped a unanimous decision to him. Wallin stopped Gianluca Mandras in the fifth round in 2017 to lay claim to the vacant WBA Continental Heavyweight Title.
A year later he captured the EBE European Heavyweight Crown via a unanimous decision over Adrian Granat. He’s also faced the likes of Rydell Booker, Kamil Sokolowski, Dominic Breazeale, Travis Kauffman, Srdan Govedarica, Raphael Zumbano, Osborne Machimana, Samir Kurtagic and Vladimir Goncharov. Wallin’s a heavyweight hopeful who always has a puncher’s chance no matter who he faces due to his size, decent power and chin.
Prediction…
There’s no point really in Wallin trying to outbox Joshua. The way to beat him is simply to hurt him and stop him. He doesn’t like to get hit so unless Wallin lets his hands go with bad intent here he isn’t going to win this fight. Joshua’s chin has always been a bit of a question mark and he’s now fine tuned his other boxing skills because of it and sometimes employs a hit-and-run strategy. Wallin isn’t known for his one-punch power but anything can happen in a heavyweight fight if he connects on the button. I don’t see it happening however as it’s a longshot. The most likely ending here will be a Joshua victory by points.
