Former two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (27-3, 24 KOs) defeated his former sparring partner Otto Wallin (26-2, 14 KOs) by a fifth round stoppage on Saturday night at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Joshua hurt the 33-year-old Wallin with a right hand to the head in the fifth and had him close to being stopped. After the round ended, Wallin’s corner chose not to let him come out for the sixth round. Wallin’s nose was bleeding, perhaps broken, and he had a cut under his right eye.
B24 will be providing updates & results of tonight’s live boxing action below.
In tonight’s co-main event, former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker (34-3, 23 KOs) defeated a badly ring-rusty 38-year-old former WBC champ Deontay ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KOs) by a one-sided twelve round unanimous decision. The scores were 118-111, 120-108 and 118-110. Wilder looked old, shot, and with the accuracy that he once had, totally gone. It wasn’t that Parker was great. It was that Wilder was so awful, looking like a fighter who hadn’t fought in ages. Wilder looked like he was afraid to let his hands go the entire fight.
WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol (22-0, 11 KOs) retained his title with a lopsided twelve round unanimous decision win over IBO 175-lb champion Lyndon Arthur (23-2, 16 KOs). Bivol dropped the 32-year-old Arthur in the 11th. Bivol made it boring, taking few chances and not showing the kind of performance that he needed to make it an entertaining contest. The scores were 120-1-07, 120-107, and 120-107. “It was good sparring,” said Bivol after the fight. “I didn’t push for myself sometimes. I looked in his eyes. He kept something in himself with strength. He was ready for twelve rounds. Thirteen months, I wanted this fight. Yeah, it’s important [winning IBO 175 title]. I had 11 defenses. I didn’t get anything from my opponents. Now, I do. I want the winner. It’s not about personally. Who wins, I want that fight,” said Bivol about wanting the winner of Artur Beterbiev vs. Callum Smith. “I believe he’ll beat Beterbiev,” said Lyndon. “I did as good as I could do. I’m proud of my performance.”
Heavyweight contender Daniel Dubois (20-2, 19 KOs) scored a tenth round knockout of previously unbeaten 333 kb Jarell ‘Big Baby’ Miller (26-1-1 22 KOs) in a one-sided fight. Dubois, 26, turned it on in the tenth round, unloading against a weary 35-year-old Miller, who was bleeding from the mouth, knocking him to the ropes to force a stoppage. Dubois nailed a badly fatigued Miller with a barrage of shots that led to the referee, Michael Alexander stepping in to stop the contest. It was impressive the way that Dubois went for the finish in the tenth rather than playing it safe. Miller had looked exhausted from the sixth round, but was still plodding forward, throwing almost nothing back and soaking up punishment. The time of the stoppage was at 2:52 of round ten. The loss for Miller likely ends any chances he has for getting big fights moving forward. This was his big chance to put himself in position for big money fights after he blew his chance for a million+ payday contest against Anthony Joshua in 2019 after testing positive for PEDs.
In a surprise upset, Agit Kabayel (24-0, 16 KOs) stopped previously unbeaten Arslanbek Makhmudov (18-1, 17 KOs) in the fourth round of a 12 round fight. Kabayel, 31, dropped the bigger 6’5″ Makhmudov three times in round four to get the stoppage. Referee Mark Lyson stopped the fight at 2:03 of the fourth after the third body shot knockdown.
Ring Magazine cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia (24-0, 19 KOs) stopped second-tier fighter Ellis Zorro (17-1, 6 KOs) in a first round knockout of a scheduled twelve round fight. Late in the first round, southpaw Opetaia landed a huge left hand to the head of Zorro that sent him down flat on his back, badly hurt. Referee John Latham then stepped in and halted it at the 2:56 mark of the first round.
Heavyweight contender Filip Hrgovic (17-0, 14 KOs) destroyed his overmatched 41-year-old opponent Mark De Mori (41-3-2, 36 KOs) by a first round technical knockout. Hrgovic dropped De Mori with a right hand to the side of the head. Moments later, the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Hrgovic landed three consecutive rabbit punches to the back of De Mori’s head to get the stoppage. The time of the stoppage was at 1:46 mark. “I’m ready for a title,” said Hrgovic. “Definitely, a title shot is next. It could be winner of Joshua-Wallin, it could be Jared Anderson. I’m ready.”
Unbeaten heavyweight Frank Sanchez (24-0, 17 KOs) stayed unbeaten with a seventh round knockout of fringe contender Junior Fa (20-3, 11 KOs). The 31-year-old Cuban Sanchez knocked Fa down once in the sixth and twice more in the seventh round with right hands to the head. The ending came from a clubbing right hand that put the overmatched Fa down in the seventh. The time of the stoppage was at 2:42. Sanchez didn’t look all that great before the sixth, however, as he fought defensively and showed little power. It wasn’t the kind of stuff that made one think that Sanchez was going to be giving any of the champions in the division issues.
Deontay Wilder & Anthony Joshua will be fighting tonight in this stacked ‘Day of Reckoning’ card from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on DAZN PPV & ESPN+ PPV, with the action beginning at 11:00 AM ET.
That side of the world is Anthony Joshua territory. Yeah, I guess there’s rumors about AJ and Wilder being made, so I guess they want to showcase them on the same card,” said Paulie Malignaggi to Boxing King Media about tonight’s Anthony Joshua vs. Otto Wallin and Deontay Wilder vs. Joseph Parker fights in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“Parker is an ex-world champion, who still has some pride, and he’s a technically gifted fighter, and Wilder is sharp with his jab and his one-two, but otherwise, he’s not as technically as gifted as Parker.
“It makes you wonder. If Parker wants it as bad enough, I think he could make Wilder’s life miserable in there from a technical aspect, but otherwise, you’d expect that if Wilder lands that one-two, it’s over.
“Wallin with Joshua, that’s an interesting one because I don’t think Joshua has looked great in a while, and Wallin kind of specialties in making you look bad. Wallin still needs that key win, though. He needs that win where he not just a guy who makes you look bad, but he’s also a guy who can win at this level.
“So this is a big fight for him. It’s a big, big moment for him. Obviously, it’s a big moment for AJ if they’re going to make [the Wilder fight]. It’s a big moment for Wallin because Wallin is the kind of guy that makes you look bad.
“But this is an opportunity, being that Joshua is not coming in with the most momentum where you can go from a guy that not only makes you look bad to actually a guy that can win at this level, and that’s big. I think Wallin is a capable guy and left-handed.
“It’s interesting. I don’t know why if Joshua is getting ready to fight Wilder or if he wants to fight Wilder; I don’t know why he would fight a left-hander in his fight before that, but that’s neither here nor there. At this point, the fights happening. I guess they’ve got to make it a marketable card.