OTTO WALLIN could very well be the most in-demand man in boxing if Tyson Fury is to fight Anthony Joshua.
That is because he is just one of four men to have shared the ring with both the British superstars.
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And, he is the most recent having given Fury 47 stitches in his 2019 points loss while being stopped in five rounds against AJ in December.
Joshua’s dominance in Saudi Arabia looks to have revived his hopes of heavyweight world title contention.
And meanwhile Fury struggled against AJ’s next opponent – MMA star Francis Ngannou – escaping with a controversial split-decision win.
It has helped level the playing field when it comes to comparing the long-time domestic rivals.
And even Wallin – after 17 shared rounds between them – struggles to split the two.
He told SunSport: “I feel like Joshua is a very good fighter, very good power, very good counter puncher. I feel like he definitely has a shot with Fury.
“And you just never know what Tyson Fury shows up. I still have a hard time going against Tyson in that fight.
“But, the fights if you compare it my fight against Joshua was a lot tougher than the one I had against Fury.
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“That doesn’t mean everything but I give Joshua more of a chance than I did before. But I still would probably pick Fury as the favourite.”
Fury had to battle through nine rounds of struggling to see through his right eye after a gruesome gash sustained against Wallin.
His performance and tactics were slammed by outspoken dad John and sparked a huge change in the Gypsy King’s career.
He left trainer Ben Davison for American Sugarhill Steward, packed on the pounds and ditched his elusive style in favour of power punching.
It saw him go onto defeat Deontay Wilder twice, KO Dillian Whyte, stop Derek Chisora and edge past Ngannou.
But Wallin believes the hard-to-hit Fury of old is better served returning for a fight with Joshua.
He said: “I think that what Fury has is that he’s awkward, he’s big and he’s got a good jab and feints when he uses them.
“I think that’s what’s made him good and he needs to continue to do that. I’m not sure how much they’re working on that now with his new trainer.
“But it’s important for him to be awkward and feint a lot and use his good boxing skill.
How AJ stopped my holiday
OTTO WALLIN was due on holiday to South Africa after his Anthony Joshua fight – but due to suffering a fractured nose it was cancelled.
Wallin told us: “Because I had a little fracture in my nose I had to go back to New York to get it looked at.
“Because of insurance stuff I couldn’t travel so we came back here. I was off and had a little trip to Switzerland for a wedding and was skiing, that was nice.
“But didn’t get to go to South Africa this time. My nose wasn’t that bad, I had a small surgery in Saudi where they had to drain some blood.
“They put some stuff which was kind of painful, I couldn’t breathe through my nose for a week.
“But when they took it out here in New York everything felt fine again. They told me not to train for three weeks but I had an extra break.
“Now I’m getting back into it.”
“With Joshua, what he has is a lot of power, he’s pretty fast for how big he is and not only fast with his hands but fast with his feet too.
“I think that’s something he will need against Fury.”
Fury, 35, was due to return on February 17 against Oleksandr Usyk, 37, but a horror cut in sparring has forced a postponement till May 18.
For Joshua, 34, he takes on Ngannou, 37, on March 8 looking to better Fury’s lacklustre performance against the ex-UFC champion.
And Wallin – who enjoyed a short three-week break before getting back into training – is ready to build himself up after refusing retirement.
He said: “I was thinking about everything, my career, should I continue in boxing, should I start doing something else.
“But that was more the days after the fight, I then started to feel like, ‘You know what? I lost to the better fighter, one of the best in the world and there’s no real shame in that.’
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“I still think I can get better and beat a lot of guys. You just want to take things step by step and not look too far ahead.
“I’m starting to feel ready to come back in the summer and hopefully get a big fight sometime later this year.”