Salita wants to see Joshua vs Wallin next
Ukrainian promoter Dmitry Salita spoke to Lord Ping about former Tyson Fury opponent Otto Wallin being the obvious next fight for Anthony Joshua.
British boxer AJ slipped to a third career defeat on August 20 at the hands of Oleksandr Usyk, who also defeated him and relieved him of his unified word titles last September in Tottenham, London. AJ is now contemplating how to return to title contention, declaring his unwavering goal to become a three-time world champion.
Boxer turned promoter, Salita, manages Swedish southpaw Otto Wallin (24-1, 14KO), who gave Tyson Fury a scare during their 2019 clash, which saw 'The Gypsy King' badly cut in round three. Fury won the fight on points, but Wallin earned the respect of fight fans around the world with his plucky performance. It remains his only career defeat to date, and has won his next four fights in a row, including a unanimous decision victory over former Joshua rival Dominic Breazeale.
Salita put forward his reasons for why Josh should fight Walin next:
Otto Wallin is the obvious fight next fight for Anthony Joshua
"Based on this performance it looks like Anthony Joshua has got a lot of big fights left. The one that makes the most sense as the next one is Otto Wallin. Especially if Tyson fights Usyk in December. Joshua did a great job, he is still improving as a fighter. Looks like Robert Garcia and the rest of the team helped breathe new life into him.
AJ is clearly improving under Robert Garcia, but he must prove he’s actually elite by beating Wallin
"Otto gave Tyson Fury the hardest fight of his career. Landed more punches than Wladimir Klitschko and the first Wilder fight put together. Otto has gotten better and has had four wins since that match. If Tyson is fighting Usyk in December and Joshua wants to show that he belongs in that elite conversation, there is no better measuring stick for both objectively than Otto Wallin. Otto wants another shot at Tyson and to get to Tyson seems to be that both need each other."
Mental pressure clearly got to AJ after fight – but he deserves so much respect for reinventing himself in recent months
"I was ok with Joshua's post fight speech, obviously you can see the kind of mental pressure a high level fighter has to go through to compete in front of tens of millions of fans. Sometimes looking at TV we may not realise that he is a real person with feelings, emotions and ups and downs like everyone else. With all of that and the weight of the loss less than a year ago he did a fantastic job. As a boxing fan I have no problem with Joshua saying what he said. I actually think he is a classy guy. It’s very, very difficult. So much respect to Joshua for coming off a loss and reinventing himself in a relatively short period of time."
10 Things you didn’t know about Otto Wallin
