Otto Wallin endured a painful night as he lost to Anthony Joshua on that ‘Day of Reckoning’ card in Saudi Arabia – both mentally and physically.
The 33-year-old Swede was expected to provide a major test for Joshua in Riyadh – remember he had taken Tyson Fury to the wire in Las Vegas four years ago, with ‘The Gypsy King’ requiring 47 stitches to a cut over his eye.
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He was unable to take AJ out to deep waters though as he was taken apart in five one-sided rounds before being retired by his corner. Afterwards he revealed that he had sustained a broken nose in the bout and underwent surgery. More surgery may yet be required.
Wallin confirms broken nose
Wallin told Boxing News: “I have a fracture on my nose, it’s not completely broken but it’s fractured. I don’t know if it made a difference to be honest. I noticed that I was bleeding but when you are in the fight, you have so much adrenaline and it was early in the fight. I noticed that it was uncomfortable, but I don’t think it made a big difference.”
Wilder trainer hails AJ plan which SMASHED Wallin’s nose
Wallin (now 26-2) was asked about his corner’s decision to retire him before the bout had even reached halfway. He had no issues with it whatsoever, and praised his long-time mentor for making the difficult call.
“I didn’t disagree with him. Joey [Gamache] told me that he was going to stop it and I didn’t say anything. Joey has been with me for 10 years, he has seen me in training and he’s seen me in almost all of my fights and he has never pulled me out of anything, so I trust Joey, he is always looking out for me and I feel very happy that I have a trainer who just puts my health first. There is a life after boxing, so I am really appreciative that he is looking out for me.
“If you’re a trainer, you see your guy out there, comes back every round, he looks worse in the corner – I haven’t watched the fight but I trust Joey.”
Wallin hails Ben Davison factor
The Wallin fight was Joshua’s first with new trainer Ben Davison heading up his corner, and Otto was extremely impressed with the end result.
“I think they had a good gameplan. He felt like a very good fighter. Obviously it was a much tougher fight that what I had with Fury – he did really really well. Maybe he’s found his home with Ben Davison, I don’t know.
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“I was confident going into the fight that I had a really good chance of winning. He did a really good job, AJ.”
