Anthony Joshua (27-3, 24 KOs) made easy work of Otto Wallin (26-2, 14 KOs), beating him by a fifth round TKO defeat in a one-sided fight on Saturday night at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Wallin looked in bad shape after the fifth and was wisely not allowed to come out for the sixth.
The fight was never competitive, as the former two-time heavyweight champion Joshua picked the weaker, slower Wallin with single shots in each round, breaking him down slowly until the big Swede’s corner pulled him out.
Live boxing action & results will be provided below.
– In a lackluster fight, Joseph Parker (34-3, 23 KOs) beat an over-the-hill looking former WBC champ Deontay ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KOs) by a lopsided twelve round unanimous. Wilder looked afraid the entire fight, failing to throw his right hand and missing badly when he did throw.
Wilder looked 100% shot with nothing left after fighting just one round in the last two years since his loss to Tyson Fury in their trilogy clash in 2021.
After the fight, the 38-year-old Wilder looked fine with losing and did not look or sound upset. He had the look that only a wealthy fighter would have after a loss. The scores were 118-111, 120-108 and 118-110.
Parker fought well and landed the better shots. He appeared to hurt Wilder in the eighth round after flurrying with him against the ropes. In the twelveth round, Parker played it safe, clinching repeatedly to run out the clock. It wasn’t the best way to close out the win, but Parker wasn’t willing to take chances.
– Unbeaten WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol (22-0, 11 KOs) started fast and cruised to a twelve round unanimous decision Lyndon Arthur (23-2, 16 KOs). Bivol looked good early, nailing Arthur with flurries against the ropes repeatedly. The scores were 120-107, 120-107 and 120-107.
In the eleventh, Bivol dropped Arthur with a left to the body after flurrying with a storm of shots when he was trapped against the ropes.
Bivol landed 226 of 607 punches for a 37% connect rate. Bivol looked timid when he was under attack from Arthur, and it was dull, not as interesting to watch as the other fights on the undercard apart from the Frank Sanchez fight.
– Heavyweight Daniel Dubois (20-2, 19 KOs) bounced back from a loss to stop an out-of-shape looking previously unbeaten Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller (26-1-1, 22 KOs) in the tenth round. In the final seconds of the tenth, the former WBA ‘regular’ heavyweight champion Dubois unleashed a barrage of punches that caused a weary-looking 333-lb Miller to stumble into the ropes, taking shot after shot until referee Michael Alexander stepped in and stopped the fight. The time of the stoppage was at 2:52 of the tenth.
‘Big Baby’ Miller likely would have made it through to the end of the fight if the referee stopped it, as he was still upright, but he was taking too much punishment for the contest to be allowed to continue.
After the fight, the 35-year-old Miller said he put in more training time for his next fight as he looked out of shape. He was carrying too much extra weight, wasn’t in the ideal condition him to take on this level of fighter.
– In the first upset in tonight’s ‘Day of Reckoning’ card, unbeaten, unassuming, light-hitting fringe heavyweight Agit Kabayel (24-0, 16 KOs) quickly discovered the Achilles heel of previously undefeated, highly ranked Arslanbek Makhmudov (18-1, 17 KOs), knocking him down three times en route to scoring a fourth round knockout.
The time of the stoppage was at 2:03 of round four. After the third bodyshot knockdown of Makhmudov, the referee John Latham waved it off.
– Fighting a stay-busy fight, the recently stripped former IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia (24-0, 19 KOs) scored a highlight reel one-punch first round of previously unbeaten Ellis Zorro (17-1, 7 KOs).
The southpaw Opetaia was economical with his shots tonight, landing occasional single left hands to the body and head. Late in the round, the 28-year-old Opetaia unleashed a powerful straight left to the head of Zorro that put him down back first.
There was no getting up from that kind of shot, and the contents were immediately halted by referee John Latham. The time of the stoppage was at 2:56 of the first.
– In a total slaughter, heavyweight title challenger Filip Hrgovic (17-0, 14 KOs) destroyed an overmatched Mark De Mori (41-3-2, 36 KOs) by a first round TKO. Hrgovic sent the 41-year-old De Mori down with a right hand to the head.
After he got back to his feet, De Mori was hit with several clubbing punches from Hrgovic behind the head. The referee then stepped in to halt the fight at 1:46. To his credit, Hrgovic held off on one final punch behind the head.
– Top 10 heavyweight Frank “The Cuban Flash” Sanchez (24-0, 17 KOs) stopped Junior Fa (20-3, 11 KOs) in the seventh round of a three knockdown performance.
Sanchez dropped Fa once in the sixth and two more times in the seventh round before the contest was halted by referee Kevin Parker at 2:42.
Fa never seemed to recover from getting knocked down hard in the sixth round from a big right hand that caused his legs to completely. The fight would have likely ended in that round if not for knocking down coming late in the round.
Tonight is the night with former two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder both in action in their respective fights at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Tonight’s Joshua – Otto Wallin & Wilder vs. Joseph Parker event begins at 11:00 AM ET on ESPN+ PPV & DAZN PPV.
Day of Reckoning card: Big Names
“It’s a cool card. I even like the fact that Dmitry Bivol is coming back because, politically, he’s been put on the shelf through no fault of his own,” said Paulie Malignaggi to Boxing King Media. “That’s unfair for a fighter that had such a great year in 2022. So, it’s nice to see him back.
[Filip] Hrgovic as well. He’s on the card. He became the #1 contender by beating Zhang, and then Zhang got the most momentum by beating Joe Joyce twice after that, and Zhang has everybody talking, and Hrgovic is just forgotten. I don’t think that’s fair either. I like that all these guys are getting on the show, Hrgovic, and Bivol, because I think they deserve it as well.
“Opetaia, yeah. So you got guys that are getting a chance to be on the show. It’s a nice card. If anyone can make the fights that are hard to make and you want to watch, it’s the Saudis.
“If they keep their involvement in boxing, I think we’ll see a lot more big-time boxing in Saudi Arabia and also fights that we may not be able to make actually get made. These people have the power over there to make these fights and do this and to really, really push boxing to another level.
“I think it could. It all depends on the hunger Parker has,” said Malignaggi about Wilder not being as active as Parker in the last year. “Listen, if Parker still wants this, I think he can make Wilder’s life miserable. If Parker is, ‘I’m just here for a payday and whatever happens,’ then he’ll get caught with a one-two for sure, and he probably won’t be able to resist it.
“If he’s really determined to win the fight and really determined to gung-ho get this victory where he’s disciplined and fighting focused for three minutes of every round, he can give a lot of problems to Wilder because he’s technically better in the overall boxing skills.
“I’ll probably go with Wilder catching him. At the age Parker’s at, I can’t know if he’s hungry. Typically, at that age, you’re showing up for paydays, giving it the effort, not like when you were young and you were willing to go through fire. I think Wilder gets him out of there. I think Wilder wins,” said Malignaggi.