Anthony Joshua put in a terrific performance to beat Otto Wallin inside the distance but Deontay Wilder’s shock points loss to Joseph Parker on the same bill scuppered plans for the long-awaited heavyweight showdown.
Briton Joshua boxed magnificently in Saudi Arabia, dominating Wallin before the Swede’s corner pulled him out of the fight at the end of the fifth.
Earlier in the night, American Wilder appeared a shadow of himself in Riyadh and was hurt badly in the eighth as New Zealander Parker was awarded a unanimous decision.
“I heard that Deontay lost. So what? He’ll be back. Deontay, everything that he said about me, I could rip him apart right now, but I’m going to take the higher ground,” Joshua said.
“You can come back. If he wanted to, he could come back. I’m sure everyone still wants to see that fight.”
Parker, also a former world champion, was awarded a unanimous decision with the judges scoring it 118-111, 118-110 and 120-108.
Saudi organisers had already pencilled in the Joshua-Wilder bout for next year. While no contract had been signed, the pair were expected to enter the ring post-fight and announce a deal to fight at some point in early 2024.
Wilder admitted all the talk of a fight at least five years in the making had been “a distraction”, although Joshua more than did his part.
After the fight, promoter Eddie Hearn said Joshua is most likely going to face Croatia’s Filip Hrgovic for a vacant IBF world title, bidding to become a three-time world champion.
The Saudis, promoters and boxing followers had jumped the gun. There was still an air of disbelief as Sweden’s Wallin – in what is probably a boxing first – walked to the ring to ABBA’s ‘The Winner Takes it All’.
On a dramatic night for heavyweight boxing, there was a noticeably low-key atmosphere in the Kingdom Arena, with plenty of empty seats in the 6,000-capacity venue.
Joshua, unlike Wilder, began strongly. The 34-year-old delivered a gut-wrenching body shot in the first and made southpaw Wallin’s legs buckle in the second with straight rights down the barrel.
The 2012 Olympic gold medallist has transitioned from an explosive power-punching finisher to a smarter, less reckless, boxer.
Joshua was enjoying his work in a measured, composed and dominant performance. He connected with a brilliant left hook in the fifth. It was one clean punch too many, with Wallin’s team deciding it was best the 33-year-old stayed put on his stool.
The Watford fighter called the win “just another fight” and although he did not rule out a bout with Wilder in the future, he now seems ready to set his sights on challenging for a world title.
With Oleksandr Usyk v Tyson Fury on 17 February in Saudi Arabia, a potential rematch between that pair could see the IBF title become vacant. A belt Joshua and Hrgovic could contest.
“We’ve got bigger ambitions,” Joshua said of his three wins this year. “As I said to Louis Theroux, we don’t celebrate when we win these fights, we celebrate when we win titles.”
Joshua beats Wallin in Saudi but Wilder suffers shock loss to Parker
