Also, Dubois gets it right, Bivol and Opetaia win in the ‘Day Of Reckoning’
This article originally appeared on Substack by Steve Wellings.
Anthony Joshua’s rebuilding process continues to accelerate as the former unified world champion delivered a beating to Otto Wallin. Wallin, who appeared in Saudi Arabia as a stocky, industrious man, should now have his heavyweight boogeyman status revoked.
Much of the Swede’s anguish stemmed from Joshua’s front-foot delivery and his powerful jab that kept Wallin in his box until the southpaw and his corner closed the lid and withdrew from the contest after suffering facial damage each greater time in the fifth round.
After an impressive victory on away soil over cruiserweight Murat Gassiev, Wallin was expected to cause Joshua problems similar to those he posed against Tyson Fury in 2019. The motivated AJ had different ideas.
Unleashing a powerful left hook and right hand from the back of his ramrod rangefinder, Joshua seized the initial momentum and never let up. Wallin tried to move to the side and land shots.
The Joey Gamache-trained man looked leaden, with the 33-year-old’s face showing growing battle scars as the short evening wore on.
2023 has proven to be a fruitful year for Joshua, who first beat Jermaine Franklin and then Robert Helenius before this latest domination. Each victory has seen constant improvements. New coach Ben Davison was in his corner for this attraction of the Riyadh season.
Joshua’s victory was supposed to open the door to a fight with Deontay Wilder. However, that on-again, off-again saga took another turn, as Wilder surprisingly lost comprehensively to Joseph Parker.
Despite the setback, Joshua declared his interest in continuing to fight Wilder instead of Parker, whom he defeated in a messy affair in 2018. Taking to the microphone, the Watford man declined the opportunity to rate his performance and described the victory as a another day at the office. He’s right about that.
Retirement looms for the apathetic Wilder after Parker’s perfect performance
Deontay Wilder acknowledges this is not the end despite conceding a comprehensive points loss to Joseph Parker in Riyadh. Looking weak and physically fragile in the clinches, Wilder seems mentally finished at the top level, even if he refuses to admit it.
Tyson Fury had inflicted Wilder’s two previous defeats in back-to-back grueling battles. Having participated in just one round of action over two years, the manner of this latest defeat is all the more worrying as the old tricks did not work on the clever Parker.
Fighting without intimidation, Parker built an early lead through activity alone as Wilder moved out of reach, not engaging in his attacks. The frenetic outbursts of yesteryear were missing. The jab, which often led to hard right hands, repeatedly failed to land.
Parker became the first man to remain standing for the entire 12 rounds against Wilder. The Alabama man is now 38 years old and in decline. Parker, coached by Andy Lee, worked on a disciplined stance and carried out his game plan, thanks to his increased fitness down the stretch, where he often tires. The New Zealander, an unexpected winner by wide margins, now has a series of future options on the table.
While Wilder’s post-fight interview was moving (he mentioned his children, his family values, and his financial security), it hardly convinces the world that the cold-blooded killer we once knew is still around. A fight with Anthony Joshua has been teased since 2017. For various reasons, it has never happened.
Dangerous Dubois detonates demons while Miller is punished for his past
Daniel Dubois showed the rest of his ‘Day Of Reckoning’ cohort exactly how it’s done by knocking down Jarrell Miller in the final 10 seconds of an entertaining heavyweight fight.
Despite the American’s chubby physique, Miller is capable of scoring and maintaining a decent pace. His main tactic was to advance behind a high guard, making Dubois work, hoping to tire the Londoner out later. Daniel lived up to this strategy and showed excellent physical form from the first bell to the last.
Jarrell had served a long ban for repeat drug offences, but was high on this lucrative bill. The talkative 35-year-old absorbed increasingly harder blows as the shots passed. Dubois stayed away and used his jab to perfection, complemented by an energy-sapping left hook to the body and a sharp right hook.
Staggering in the eighth and visibly weakened in the ninth, Miller could be forgiven for thinking he had weathered the storm before Dubois pushed his foot down and unleashed the bombs in the tenth round. Miller tried to convince referee Michael Alexander that he was fit to continue. The referee jumped correctly while he was lying on the ropes.
This was a personal mental battle for Dubois more than anything else. The man who lost his undefeated record to Joe Joyce felt he got unlucky earlier this year when he landed a controversial punch on Oleksandr Usyk that almost earned him the heavyweight jewels.
“I want to fight the best fighters,” proclaimed Dubois, who admitted he was looking for a confidence boost. The soft-spoken Englishman also bore no ill will toward his victim despite Miller’s rude behavior during the setup.
Brilliant Bivol achieves functional victory over IBO King Arthur
Absent from the ring for 13 months, Dmitry Bivol returned with a routine 12-round decision victory over Lyndon Arthur. Bivol is levels above Arthur, but decided to let his enemy hear the final bell. This is nothing new for the Russian stylist who often fights against his opponents.
Arthur used his bulk and long arms to ensure that minimal target was offered. It is difficult to knock out someone who refuses to be knocked out, and only in the 11th round did the challenger succumb to the pressure and take a knee.
In one of the middle rounds, Bivol appeared to be hurt or at least uncomfortable by a right hand to the body. Arthur never followed up and television replays did not show the incident. Arthur lost the IBO belt that he recently won from Argentine Braian Suárez. The Manchester man was understandably negative and did not disgrace himself with the defeat.
All three judges had identical scores of 120-107 in favor of Bivol. The winner criticized Artur Beterbiev again, whenever his fierce compatriot bested Callum Smith on January 13 in Quebec.
The monster Makhmudov humiliated by the unsuspecting Kabayel
The announced Russian beast, Arslanbek Makhmudov, was supposed to be a problem for the cheerful Agit Kabayel. It turned out that the German’s hand and foot speed and a calculated body attack were the right tools to dissect Makhmudov. The loser craned his neck repeatedly in a bizarre performance in which he lumbered around the ring like Nosferatu lurking in the shadows.
Referee Mark Lyson called it off in the fourth round when Makhmudov collapsed under repeated pressure. Kabayel’s lateral movement left Arslanbek throwing wild bombs. Once the heavy gunshots landed, it was only a matter of time.
Kabayel is the European champion and needs to increase his activity levels to thrive. It’s hard to overstate how rookie and scrappy the terrible Canada-based Makhmudov was that night.
Opetaia freezes Zorro in the face of unification opportunities
This is a very bad man from Opetaia! exclaimed DAZN commentator Sergio Mora as Ellis Zorro stood sadly. In fairness to Zorro, he was doing well in the first round until Jai Opetaia unleashed a fantastic left hand to send the Bromley man on his back, eyes rolling back into his head.
The left-handed Opetaia is too strong for this level of enemy. Despite being stripped of the IBF cruiserweight belt, the man described by Eddie Hearn as one of the most exciting fighters on the planet still maintains the number one status in his weight class. It was time for him to face his fellow champions.
Frank Sánchez takes a step forward to knock out Junior Fa
Frank Sanchez has found it difficult to get big fights and needed a solid performance to dismiss the skeptics. Frank finally finished the job after a tentative start. Opponent Junior Fa showed a lot of bravery to keep getting up despite receiving well-placed blows from the ‘Cuban Flash’.
Fa was caught napping in the sixth round when a punch to the stomach, followed by a hard right hand, landed on the chin and dropped the big man for the count. Had it been earlier in the round, the New Zealander might have found himself finished.
That happened in the seventh round, when Fa hit the canvas two more times before referee Kevin Parker waved it off. Sánchez de Cuba is hesitant and conservative at best.
Once the opponent was injured, Sanchez dropped the negativity and intervened with a combination. Contenders and champions will not be willing to fight him, just as many fans will not be willing to watch him.
Hrgovic makes easy work of De Mori
In the most lopsided contest of the night, Croatian Filip Hrgovic was expected to defeat Australian Mark De Mori. ‘The Viking’ played with some slow punches and felt the wrecking ball with his right hand in the first round.
Hunched against the ropes, De Mori was removed with a wave of the corner towel as he took cover to try to prevent an early attack. High-ranked Hrgovic loves rabbit shots and needs better opposition.
Complete results from the heavyweight boxing ‘Day of Reckoning’
Anthony Joshua WON RTD5 Otto Wallin – Heavyweight, 12 rounds
Deontay Wilder LOST PTS12 Joseph Parker – Heavyweight, 12 rounds
Dmitry Bivol WON PTS12 Lyndon Arthur – Light Heavyweight, 12 rounds
Daniel Dubois WON TKO10 Jarrell Miller – Heavyweight, 10 rounds
Jai Opetaia WON KO1 Ellis Zorro – Cruiserweight, 12 rounds
Arslanbek Makhmudov LOST TKO4 Agit Kabayel – Heavyweight, 10 rounds
Frank Sanchez WON TKO7 Junior Fa – Heavyweight, 10 rounds
Filip Hrgovic WON TKO1 Mark De Mori – Heavyweight, 10 rounds
Media credits: Eurosport, Talksport, Yahoo Sports, DAZN, CBS Sports, Ring Magazine/Getty Images, Arab News, Sky Sports.
About Steve: Seasoned boxing writer, author of 8 books, and podcaster of over 500 episodes. 20 years in sports. He covered hundreds of shows for newspapers and Boxing News magazine. Chief video scriptwriter for the Motivedia and BN+ channel. For inquiries: [email protected].
Very interesting!