Anthony Joshua is feeling the pressure ahead of his pre-Christmas dust-up with Otto Wallin, admitting that his “career is over” if he fails to beat the Swede in Saudi Arabia. Former world champion Joshua has been working hard on a return to the pinnacle of heavyweight boxing with two victories in 2023 already against Jermaine Franklin and Robert Helenius.
A third victory in nine months, against ‘All in’ would take the Londoner a step closer to a genuine shot at the world championship belt but any other than a victory in Riyadh would spell complete disaster for the Olympic gold medalist.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference ahead of the ‘Day of Reckoning’ double headline event in Riyadh, Joshua said: “I know where I’m going in my life but I’ve got to say this is a checkpoint and if I don’t get past this, there is no future so I’m fully locked into Otto Wallin and doing the job.
“Pure focus on Saturday, that’s with my heart, soul and every cell in my body is focused on Otto Wallin and knowing what I can do. I’m looking to do a good job and what more can I say, I will do a good job.
“I’m here to fight, I’m not here to party, I want to perform well and put that pressure on myself because I want to win, I have that urge to win and want to hurt my opponent as well.”
Joshua’s battle with Wallin is sharing top billing with Deontay Wilder’s fight against Joseph Parker. Should Joshua and Wilder both emerge victorious in Saudi Arabia then they will be on course to face each other next year in a final eliminator match that could determine who is the number one challenger for the world championship belts currently held by Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury.
But before Joshua can even think about Wilder, he must dispatch an opponent who has only lost once in his professional career and has six straight wins to his name since suffering defeat to Fury in 2019. As a result, Wallin does not consider himself to be the underdog.
He told the press conference: “Its a big fight and big opportunity I’ve worked hard to be here and now it’s time to enjoy the moment, win the fight and move on.
“I’m going to win the fight and it shouldn’t be an upset, it’s natural and it’s my time, I’m happy to be here. I’m just trying to be myself, people say I talk a lot but I just answer them with what I feel, and I’m not trying to make anything up its the truth if people don’t like it fine, but its true.”
