Eddie Hearn says Anthony Joshua is “firing on all cylinders,” hoping he will defeat the ultra-confident Otto Wallin on Saturday’s ‘Day of Reckoning’ event in Saudi Arabia.
Hearn wants AJ to be fully focused on the 33-year-old Swede Wallin, not looking past him towards the pot of gold he’s on the precipice to get in a potential two-fight deal with Deontay Wilder for 2024 in Saudi Arabia.
Wallin (26-1, 14 KOs) sees Joshua’s self-belief at an all-time low after three of his last six fights, and he recognizes that the 2012 Olympic gold medalist isn’t the same fighter he once was years ago.
The mental weakness that Joshua has shown over the last four years is hard to miss, looking to the blob, Andy Ruiz, getting beaten twice by former cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk and appearing timid in victories over Jermaine Franklin & Robert Helenius.
Hearn hopes that the aggression & irritability that Joshua has shown this week is a signal that he will come out looking like the old AJ because if he’s not, it could end badly for him.
Otto Wallin poised for upset
“Wallin is up for it, and he believes he can win the fight. I think that’s good for us. Whenever you’ve got a big fight on the horizon, you’ve got to really up for this one, and AJ is up for it, firing on all cylinders, but he’s probably listening to what Otto Wallin is saying as well. I like the energy Otto Wallin is bringing to this fight. He really thinks he’s going to win,” said Eddie Hearn to Boxing Social on Anthony Joshua being motivated for Saturday’s ‘Day of Reckoning’ card in Saudi Arabia.
Hearn has got to be having kittens about the potential of Joshua losing this fight to Wallin, and he’s likely second-guessing his decision not to choose a smaller, weaker, and less talented Agit Kabayel for AJ instead of this big lug.
“I just want him to be up for this fight. I want him to go in there and knock Otto Wallin out, and he does. I think that’s important,” Hearn continued about Joshua. “You don’t want to be going into this fight, ‘Oh, it’s Otto Wallin. I’m not really up for it. I’ve got to win this fight, and then I’ve got Wilder.'”
It’s a bad thing for Joshua that he’s got the potential two-fight deal with Wilder looming, considering it creates pressure on him and it could distract him. Four years ago, AJ fell apart in his first fight with Andy Ruiz Jr. when there was talk of a clash with Deontay coming next. Will history repeat itself?
“You’ve got to go in there, ‘I want to do a job on him.’ Like I said, everything I’m hearing in training camp, I’m excited to see the performance,” said Hearn.
“There’s a lot of things that have to happen before AJ & Wilder gets announced, but without victory on Saturday, completely irrelevant,” said Hearn, talking about the two-fight deal between Joshua and Deontay Wilder for 2024.
