Otto Wallin says Fury fight should have been stopped, wants rematch

By Andy Brooks - 09/16/2019 - Comments

Otto Wallin (20-1, 13 KOs) says his fight with lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (29-0-1, 20 KOs) should have been stopped due to the bad cut Tyson suffered last Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

A lot of boxing fans wonder the same thing as Wallin about why Fury was permitted to fight with a huge cut over his right eye from the 3rd round. Why didn’t the ringside doctor stop the fight? It’s not as if Fury’s corner was able to stop the bleeding. They couldn’t, because it was too deep of a cut.

After the fight, Fury had 47 stitches put in to repair the cut. The fight arguably should have been stopped in the 4th round. Letting Fury fight with a massive cut put him at risk of serious injury, and it may hurt his career. Fighters that suffer bad cuts often have problems for the remainder of their careers in taking shots on the area where they were previously cut.

Wallin, 28, says he thinks that the officials didn’t halt the contest because of Fury being a big star. Further, he thinks that the bout would have been halted if he were the one with a bad cut. He doesn’t have faith that he would be treated in a similar manner as Fury.

Wallin says the ringside doctor would have stopped it if he were cut 

“Yeah, I definitely thought he was going to stop the fight, but I understand, he’s a big favorite and a big star and the draw,” said Wallin to TMZ about his theory on why the ringside doctor didn’t stop the fight after Fury was badly cut in round 3. “So they didn’t want to stop it. He kept fighting, and was fighting good with the cut. But definitely, it was someone else, they probably would have stopped it. Yeah, they would have definitely stopped, I think,” said Wallin when asked if the ringside doctor would have stopped the fight if he were the one with the bad cut instead of Fury.

What’s sad is boxing fans were predicting on social media during the fight that the ringside doctor wouldn’t stop the fight due to Fury’s popularity. He fights for Top Rank, and they’re paying him a lot of money. If Fury had lost the fight due to the cut, then it would have messed up his rematch with WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder.

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Fury was using dirty tactics too says Wallin

“He had two cuts, really bad cuts. I don’t know what they mean. This is boxing. It’s a fight. You’ve got to do everything you can to win,” said Wallin in response to a question about his view on the boxing fans that say he was fighting dirty against Fury. “If it was the other way around, he was using dirty tactics too, and I’m not going to let someone do that to me without me answering back with some similar tactics.

He [Fury] was pulling me down, hitting me low, dirty stuff,” said Wallin when asked what dirty tactics Fury was using. “It’s a fight. You’ve got to do whatever it takes to win,” said Wallin.

Wallin looked like he was trying to worsen Fury’s cut by raking his left glove over his injured eye at one point. However, Fury was also fouling in throwing rabbit punches, leading with his head, hitting Wallin with his forearm. The mildest foul that Fury was using was pushing down on Wallin’s head.

Wallin says fight should have been a draw

“I haven’t watched the fight, but it was a really close fight. It was a lot closer than the scorecards were,” said Wallin. “I felt like it was at least a draw, but I’ve got to watch the fight over. I want a rematch, but I probably won’t get it, because I know they have the Wilder fight. But I would like the rematch, of course. I feel like I can do even better. I don’t know who I want, but I’ve got to come back strong. And I got to go back, put the work in, and come back stronger and better,” said Wallin.

A lot of boxing fans agree that the fight should have been scored a draw. They gave the southpaw Wallin 5 of the first 6 rounds. From there, Wallin came back to win the 12th round after hurting Fury with a left. 5 + 1 = 6 rounds. If you do the math, Wallin deserved a draw, but obviously not with this set of judges that worked the fight. They had Fury winning by the scores 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112. 118-110 = 10 rounds to 2. Those are ridiculous scores. Fury was nowhere to be found in the first six rounds. At best, he won one round.

So you can argue that Wallin really did deserve a draw last Saturday, but obviously not with the judges that were assigned to the fight. They were clearly watching a different fight than the boxing public saw. If Fury was as good as those scores would indicate, the fans wouldn’t be dumping on him now. You don’t see fighters getting dumped on when they win a fight by a 10 rounds to 2 score. Of course, when the scores don’t match the actual fight, then boxing fans are critical of the fighters. In Fury’s case, he was god-awful. Giving Fury 6 rounds is being kind.

Wallin wants rematch with Fury, but doubts he’ll give him one

“Yeah, I’d like the rematch, but I’m not expecting to get that,” said Wallin. “But I want to keep progressing. I showed that I belong at this level. I’m going to be even better. Next time, we’re going to get the win. I’m happy about that. Not a lot of people believed in me, but a lot of people did. So I’m thankful for them. For the others, they know now why they should believe in me. I just talked to him [Fury] very briefly. He came into my locker room, and showed some respect. I respect Tyson.

He’s a great champion. Other than that, I haven’t talked to him. Like I said, I want a rematch, but I don’t think I’ll get it now. After that, maybe I can get the winner. That would be great too to fight for the world title,” said Wallin about wanting to fight the winner of the Deontay Wilder vs. Fury rematch. It was a good fight. Thank you for the opportunity. I hope we can do it again,” said Wallin.