Anthony Joshua continued his quest to return to the top of the heavyweight division with a dominant five-round win over Otto Wallin.
Joshua busted up and hurt Sweden’s Wallin, whose corner pulled him out after five punishing rounds.
Wallin gave Tyson Fury a competitive fight back in 2019 but he could not handle Joshua.
Joshua boxed with solid, technical skill but was hunting for a finish from the opening bell.
He stamped his authority on every round, and particularly hurt Wallin with a hefty right cross-left hook combination in the fifth round.
Clearly marked up and damaged, Wallin was retired on his stool after the end of the fifth round.
Story of the fight
Joshua, who from 2016 to 2022 fought exclusively in world championship contests, was in the unaccustomed position of having his third consecutive non-title bout against Wallin.
After victories over Jermaine Franklin and Robert Helenius earlier this year, Joshua was looking to work his way back to championship class.
In the background ahead of this fight, his representatives were in talks for a potential two-fight deal with Deontay Wilder in 2024.
Those plans were scuppered when Joseph Parker tore up the script, upsetting Wilder with a wide unanimous decision win on the same bill in Riyadh.
Joshua’s right does damage
Joshua did not lose his focus though. From the opening bell he worked with serious intent.
Moving out to the centre of the ring, Joshua pawed with his jab but was soon casting out right crosses.
A thumping backhand crashed into Wallin’s stomach, a body shot that he felt.
Joshua struck a right to the head. He was sharper on his feet too, darting out of range before Wallin could reach him with an attempt to counter.
Joshua crunched a right hook in, that Wallin just caught on a glove.
Wallin tapped in his jab, trying to use his southpaw stance to frustrate Joshua.
But that didn’t work for him. Joshua sent another straight right to the body, before firing a brace of punches to the head.
Joshua can look to the future, although prospective opponent Deontay Wilder lost in an upset on the same bill
A right scraped across the side of Wallin’s head and then a big left sent the Swede stumbling away to the side.
To begin the fifth round Joshua stuck in hard shots, to underscore his near-total control. Soon Wallin’s feet looked uncertain beneath him.
AJ hinted that he’d throw his right to the head, and heaved it to the body.
Then he connected with a ferocious two-punch combination. A cross caught Wallin setting up a huge left hook that hurt the Swede.
Wallin staggered away and Joshua was on him, attacking ferociously.
He did damage that saw a dejected Wallin return to his corner, where his coach did not let him back out for another round.
‘Another day in the office’
That was a job well done by Joshua, who was working with another new trainer for the first time in this fight.
After losing to Oleksandr Usyk, Joshua left Rob McCracken to link up with Robert Garcia. His first two fights of this year were with coach Derrick James but for this fight he brought in Ben Davison, who trained Fury for several fights including his bout with Wallin.
“I can’t grade my performance. My performance team will judge me and the fans at home will have a lot to say, so I’ll leave it up to them,” Joshua said afterwards.
“Not a throwback fight, just another fight. It was just another day in the office.
“All I want to be is victorious for as long as I can.”