Anthony Joshua ends 2023 with an emphatic win over Otto Wallin in Saudi Arabia

FORMER world heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua has rounded off 2023 brilliantly by winning his last fight of the year knocking out Otto Wallin in a high profile bout in Saudi Arabia.

In the fight which took place yesterday, Joshua won his third fight of this year in a bout that was billed as the main event of the Day of Reckoning card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Earlier in 2023, Joshua secured victories over Jermaine Franklin in April and Robert Helenius in August.

Against Wallin, he cruised to a fifth-round technical knockout, which had been expected to be a tough challenge for the Nigerian-British boxer. Up until yesterday, the only defeat Wallin had suffered before now came in 2019 against Tyson Fury.

Joshua now holds an impressive record of 27 victories and three losses, with 24 knockout wins. On the fifth round, Wallin’s coach, Joey Garnache, threw in the towel, stopping the fight, to spare his man more suffering.

Joshua first lost his unified titles to Oleksandr Usyk in September 2021 before failing to regain them despite a more valiant effort in the Saudi Arabia rematch 11 months later. Over the last year, however, he has gradually been getting back into the reckoning as he works his way towards a title challenge.