The Swedish fighter claims that Anthony Joshua, who defeated Otto Wallin in just five rounds in December of last year, is a more formidable foe than WBC champion Tyson Fury.

There were boxing aficionados who had predicted Wallin would pull off an upset and ruin Joshua and Deontay Wilder’s scheduled battle before the “Day of Reckoning” in Saudi Arabia.

But Joshua dominated the main event after Wilder was decisively outmatched by Joseph Parker on the undercard. After just five rounds of boxing in Riyadh, the former two-time heavyweight champion forced the stoppage by dominating Wallin from the opening bell.

This marked Wallin’s second career defeat, with the first coming as a decision loss to Fury, and the Swede contender has refused to make any excuses, instead praising Joshua for a great performance.

“I know that he is one of the best fighters out there,” Wallin told Boxing News.

“I really have no excuses, he was just better. He did really well, used his reach well, and he hit me with some really good shots. He was just better. I think he had a good game plan. He felt like a very good fighter, and obviously, it was a much tougher fight than what I had with Tyson Fury. Maybe he’s found his home with Ben Davison.”

Wallin’s nose was dripping blood after round five, and his long-timte coach, Joey Gamache, made the bold decision to pull his fighter out early.

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The 33-year-old didn’t dispute the call at the time, and he still feels his trainer did the right thing.

“I didn’t disagree (with the stoppage), Joey told me, ‘I’m going to stop it.’ And I didn’t say anything. I trust Joey, he is always looking out for me. I feel very happy that I have a trainer who puts my health first. There’s a life after boxing, so I’m really appreciative that he is looking out for me,” he said.

Meanwhile, Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, says the British-Nigerian’s next fight is still set for March in Saudi Arabia.

Several names are being discussed for the British star’s next fight in Saudi. Some of the options include unbeaten contender Filip Hrgovic, MMA veteran Francis Ngannou, and Chinese giant Zhilei Zhang.

“Right now, we have three fights that were in discussions for they’re all big,” Hearn told IFL TV. “And that doesn’t involve Deontay Wilder. Before March our aim, and we’ve discussed this, is to fight the winner of Fury versus Usyk. That is all we want to do.

“Obviously there’s a Hrgovic fight out there for the world heavyweight title; there’s a Francis Ngannou fight out there which would be absolutely colossal. There’s other heavyweights as well, the Zhang fight possibly as well with Queensbury.”

Hrgovic is viewed by many as the frontrunner to face Joshua, while Oleksandr Usyk and WBC champion Tyson Fury are scheduled to collide in an undisputed fight February 17 in Saudi Arabia.

After the first fight between Fury and Usyk, the IBF championship is anticipated to fall vacant, and Hrgovic is the required challenger. He and Joshua are now competing for the vacant IBF title.

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