Joshua Wacks Wallin In Round 5

Nigerian borne British former World Boxing Organization, WBO, heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua, made a triumphant way into the recovery of his lost glory early Saturday night in Saudi.

In just round 5 of a one-sided encounter, the former champion dismissed his Swedish  opponent, Otto Wallin, who was once his sparring partner.

In a style starkly different from his tentative approach as seen in his last fights, Joshua put up a decisive display within the five that saw his opponent's corner refusing to release Wallin for the 6th round, effectively ending his night as loser. 

“I respect Otto. Throughout the whole buildup, I was telling everyone I need to focus on the man in front of me because I respect what he’s bringing to the table. Not so much a throwback fight, just another day in the office,” Joshua said after the rather short encounter.

Victory came with Joshua teeing off on a rather busy first round. Clearly, he had the upper hand. The second round ended with the Brit also having the edge with more punches that landed on target. Much of this punches were from his right hands that left Wallin’s nose blistering red.

Joshua adopted a sharper stance in the third round, also having his way easily and scoring with tailor made jabs that opened up a cut in Wallin's right eye.

Joshua upped the ante by producing quality boxing in round 4. In ways that left no one in any doubt that his rhythm, control, balance and counter punching tactics were more apt, he landed body and head shots that kept Wallin running off balance. 

Round five saw Joshua breaking down Wallin with solid body works, enough for the winner to deliver a left uppercut hook that not only sent Wallin reeling backwards but also had Joshua rushing in for the final kill. Although Wallin made it to the bell, it was enough for his corner to call it light out.

But it was a decision win for Joseph Parker in a 12 round contest over the much hyped Deontay Wilder.

While Wilder produced a very lack luster performance on the night, the  New Zealander, also a former heavyweight champion as the American but was the underdog in the match up, felt upbeat at the outcome.

“Dangerous fight, tough fight, but we trained very hard for this,” Parker says. “We were purely focused and we had great momentum coming into this fight. I’ll tell you: everyone had plans, other plans, but this is God’s plan.”

Parker is certain that the strategy adopred for the fight worked well againt the Bronze Bomber who has been inacrive over a last period leading up to the encounter.

“The strategy that we discussed with [trainer Andy Lee] before the fight – I was really fit with the work I’ve done with Andy and George – was to stay calm, stay relaxed, stay focused, switched-on for every second, every minute, every round.”

He says practice, practice and more practice gave him the day, particularly in avoiding the much vaunted American right hand of the former boxing heavyweight

“Practice, practice, practice, work, work, work,” Parker says. “Listen, I had to be away at all times. He did catch me a few times on the guard, and I’ll tell you this, it’s a very hard right hand, so if it landed, would’ve been different, but today’s my day…This is massive. This is the toughest opponent I’ve faced. Biggest right hand and what can I say…”

Like a typical loser, Wilder had no excuse to offer for the loss against his largely underrated opponent.

“but my timing was off a little bit. Big ups to Joseph,” Wilder said after the match

“You did a great job avoiding a lot of my punches. We make no excuses tonight, you know what I mean? It was a good fight. And we move on to the next,” he told his conqueror.