Anthony Joshua stopped Otto Wallin after five dominating rounds of a scheduled 12-rounder.
The former heavyweight champion dominated the fight from the beginning, picking Wallin apart and breaking him down until the Swede’s trainer Joey Gamache decided his fighter had taken enough punishment.
Joshua (27-3, 24 KOs) has now won three consecutive fights since he lost back-to-back bouts to Oleksandr Usyk.
The winner looked as if he was near his best, fighting behind his long jab and landing a variety of power punches to overwhelm Wallin, who could never get on track.
The blow that might’ve sealed Wallin’s fate with a big left hook that rocked him with about a minute to go in the final round. He survived but when he got back to his corner and Gamache gave him a good look, the fight was over.
Wallin (26-2, 14 KOs) had won six consecutive fights since he lost a decision against Fury in 2019.
***
Joseph Parker defeated Deontay Wilder by a unanimous decision in a one-sided battle of former heavyweight titleholders.
The official scores were 120-108, 118-110 and 118-111. Boxing Junkie scored it 118-110 for Parker, 10 rounds to two.
Parker (34-3, 23 KOs) executed a smart game plan, staying outside the reach of a huge puncher or rushing inside to smother him while finding opportune times to attack.
The Kiwi was particularly effective with his overhand right hand, which found the mark on numerous occasions.
Wilder did more waiting than punching, evidently trying to find an opening to land his vaunted right hand. That never happened. As a result, he let round by round — and ultimately the fight — slip away.
The victory was one of the biggest in the career of Parker, who has won four consecutive fights since he was stopped by Joe Joyce in September of last year.
He’s now in a strong position to fight for a major title in the coming year.
Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KOs) had fought only one round the past two years, his first-round knockout of Robert Helenius in October of last year. That followed back-to-back knockout losses to Tyson Fury, which might’ve taken something out of the 38-year-old.
He and Anthony Joshua had agreed to meet in March if things went well on Saturday.
***
Dmitry Bivol dropped overmatched Lyndon Arthur en route to winning a shutout decision in defense of his 175-pound title.
Bivol (22-0, 11 KOs) dominated the fight from the beginning with his consistent jab, quick, straight right hands, an occasional body shot and his knack for avoiding his opponent’s best shots.
Arthur (23-2, 16 KOs) jabbed and threw some power shots but he was more concerned with surviving — parrying Bivol’s punches, ducking out of the way or holding — than mounting an offense of his own.
That’s how Bivol was able to win round after round of a one-sided fight.
Bivol put Arthur down in the final seconds of Round 11, the result of a flurry of shots capped by a vicious left to the body that forced Arthur to take a knee. The Russian tried to finish the job in Round 12 with two salvos but the loser managed to stay on his feet.
All three judges scored it the same, 120-107. Boxing Junkie had the same score.
Bivol was fighting for the first time this year. He was the consensus 2022 Fighter of the Year after beating Canelo Alvarez and Gilberto Ramirez.
He could face fellow beltholder Artur Beterbiev for the undisputed championship next if Beterbiev gets past Callum Smith on Jan. 13.
***
Daniel Dubois stopped fellow heavyweight contender Jarrell Miller in the final seconds of a 10-round bout he had dominated.
Dubois (20-2, 18 KOs) used stick-and-move tactics and timely toe-to-toe exchanges to outwork Miller (26-1-1, 22 KOs), who outweighed the winner by 94 pounds.
Dubois got off to a strong start, jabbing, moving and beating the slower Miller to the punch. Miller came on in the fourth and fifth rounds, when he landed many of his best punches of the fight.
However, Dubois reclaimed the momentum after that and never gave it up. The Londoner landed power punches almost at will in the second half of the fight, when the 333-pound Miller grew weary.
It appeared that Dubois was destined to win a decision but a series of answered power punches forced the referee to stop the action. Only eight seconds remained in the fight.
Dubois was coming off a ninth-round knockout loss to unified titleholder Oleksandr Usyk in August, which put him in a must-win situation on Saturday. And he never looked better.
Miller was in the midst of a comeback after failed drug tests derailed the New Yorker’s career.
***
Agit Kabayel upset fellow heavyweight contender Arslanbek Makhmudov, putting him down three times before the fight was stopped in the fourth round of a scheduled 10-round bout.
The official time of the stoppage was 2:03.
Kabayel (24-0, 16 KOs) boxed cleverly for two rounds, making it difficult for the plodding Makhmudov (18-1, 17 KOs) to get anything accomplished.
Then the German asserted himself, landing a series of punishing power punches that began to hurt Makhmudov beginning in Round 3. Kabayel’s body work was particularly effective.
It was a left to the gut that forced Makhmudov to the canvas for the first time about a minute into Round 4. The Russian tried to fight back but he went down again from another body blow 30 seconds later.
Again, Makhudodov got to his feet but a flurry of punches with his back against the ropes convinced the referee that enough was enough.
***
Former cruiserweight titleholder Jai Opetaia stopped Ellis Zorro with a mammoth left hand to the jaw at 2:56 of the first round of a scheduled 12-round bout.
Zorro (17-1, 7 KOs) landed with his head on the bottom rope, where he remained until the referee waived off the fight.
The fighters were engaged in an uneventful first round — no significant punches had landed — when Opetaia’s big shot changed everything.
Opetaia, recognized as the top 200-pounder, announced during fight week that he had vacated his IBF title because the sanctioning body ordered him to face Mairis Briedis in a rematch.
Opetaia outpointed Briedis to win his belt in July of last year.
***
Heavyweight contender Filip Hrgovic knocked out overmatched Mark De Mori at 1:46 of the first round of a scheduled 10-rounder.
Hrgovic (17-0, 14 KOs) put De Mori (41-3-2, 36 KOs) down and hurt him with a right hand about a minute into the fight. The Aussie was able to get up but a series of hard, unanswered follow-up blows convinced the referee to end the wipe out.
Hrgovic is ranked No. 1 by the IBF, meaning he’s first in line to fight for Oleksandr Usyk’s title. Usyk is scheduled to face Tyson Fury on Feb. 17.
***
Frank Sanchez knocked out fellow heavyweight contender Junior Fa in the seventh round of a 10-round bout.
The beginning of the end came in the final seconds of Round 6, when Sanchez (24-0, 17 KOs) put Fa (20-3, 11 KOs) down with a straight right hand to the chin.
Another big right from the Cuban, followed by a flurry of hard shots, put Fa down again and hurt him about a minute into Round 7. The Kiwi was able to get up but he went down once more — again from a right — with about 30 seconds to go.
This time the referee stopped the fight, giving Sanchez his fourth consecutive stoppage. The end came with 18 seconds remaining in the round.
Fa has now lost three of his last four fights.
***
Former heavyweight champs Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua fight in separate bouts on a massive pay-per-view card Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Wilder will face another former beltholder, Joseph Parker Jr. And, in the main event, Joshua will take on former title challenger Otto Wallin. Wilder and Joshua have agreed to fight one another in March if things go well at Kingdom Arena.
The featured portion of the show is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT. (main event later in the show).
Also on the card: Dmitry Bivol vs. Lyndon Arthur, light heavyweights (for Bivolโs WBA title); Filip Hrgovic vs. Mark De Mori, heavyweights; Jai Opetaia vs. Ellis Zorro, cruiserweights (for Opetaiaโs IBF title); Daniel Dubois vs. Jarrell Miller, heavyweights; Arslanbek Makhmudov vs. Agit Kabayel, heavyweights; Frank Sanchez vs. Junior Fa, heavyweights.
Boxing Junkie will post results, as well as a brief summary, immediately after each fight ends. Simply return to this post and refresh when the time comes.
Full coverage โ detailed fight stories, analysis and more โ will follow on separate posts the night of the card and the following day.
Enjoy the fights!
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