Former world heavyweight champion Joshua received in a technical knockout after 5 rounds of his non-title battle in Riyadh.
Anthony Joshua delivered one in every of his greatest shows with a powerful stoppage of Otto Wallin, who was pulled out by his nook after the fifth spherical of a one-sided bout.
The 34-year-old made it three wins from three in 2023 after his win in Riyadh on Saturday night time.
Joshua, having already crushed Jermaine Franklin Jr by unanimous resolution in April earlier than sealing a seventh-round stoppage in opposition to Robert Helenius in August, cruised to a twenty seventh skilled profession victory.
Joshua got here flying out of the blocks in Riyadh and inflicted injury on Wallin as early because the second spherical.
Joshua landed a left hook to Wallin’s head, adopted by a thunderous proper cross and a second fast proper, which left Wallin frazzled and with blood leaking from his proper nostril.
On to the third and Wallin’s patched-up nostril was pouring once more as Joshua landed one other proper. A robust left knocked Wallin off steadiness, and the previous European champion was backed up on to the ropes and now with a reduce to his proper eye.
A steely-looking Joshua confirmed no signal of easing up within the fourth spherical as he landed a lot of head and physique pictures on his opponent. A proper hand skimmed the face of Wallin, with Joshua trying snug and in management.
Within the fifth, Joshua was throwing menacing, calculated punches, with Wallin providing little to nothing in assault. With nearly one minute of the spherical remaining, Joshua unleashed an outstanding left hook to go away Wallin stumbling in the direction of the ropes.
Wallin managed to remain on his toes and see out the spherical, however the Swede’s nook stated their fighter was unable to proceed as Joshua celebrated a damaging win.
‘Simply one other battle’
Joshua, a robust favorite, wanted greater than only a victory to persuade sceptics his greatest days weren’t behind him. The British boxer earned some model factors in opposition to the 33-year-old Wallin.
Joshua (27-3-0) had not appeared the identical since holding the WBA, IBF and WBO titles. However he delivered a throwback efficiency, jabbing and transferring ahead with confidence whereas backing down Wallin (26-2-0). A robust right-left mixture within the fifth spherical ultimately led to the stoppage.
“Simply one other battle. I respect Otto,” Joshua stated. “Not a lot a throwback, simply one other day within the workplace. I’m only a gifted fighter that has a particular present, and I exploit it to the most effective of my skill.
“We simply need to do no matter it takes to be victorious. All I need to be is simply be victorious for so long as I can. I’m looking for greatness.”
The id of Joshua’s subsequent opponent is unclear following Joseph Parker’s shock defeat of Deontay Wilder on the identical card.
The doubleheader was anticipated to arrange a March bout between Wilder and Joshua.
As an alternative, it seems Parker is able to step up in March, with the winner of that battle hoping to get a shot on the undisputed championship, which can be selected February 17 when Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk meet in Saudi Arabia. The heavyweight division has not been unified this century.
Parker dominates Wilder
The 31-year-old Parker appeared like the higher fighter all through, whereas the 38-year-old Wilder appeared his age in a matchup of former heavyweight champions.
Parker (34-3-0) dominated from the beginning, touchdown highly effective punches along with his proper hand whereas retaining Wilder on his heels with a sensible and methodical strategy.
“Harmful battle, robust battle, we skilled very onerous for this,” Parker stated.
“We had nice momentum coming into this battle. The technique was to remain calm, keep relaxed, keep centered … each minute of each spherical. It is a nice end to the 12 months.”
There was just one spherical during which Wilder received the higher of Parker.
“My timing was off somewhat bit,” Wilder stated. “He did an incredible job of avoiding plenty of my punches. I did really feel like I had the higher hand, however issues occur. We transfer on to the following step.”
Earlier, Dmitrii Bivol defeated Lyndon Arthur in a unanimous resolution that noticed all three judges rating it a 12-round sweep for the IBO gentle heavyweight and WBA tremendous gentle heavyweight belts.