Otto Wallin believes he has a mental edge over Anthony Joshua thanks to all the work he has been putting in with his psychologist. The Swede has spoken a lot about AJ’s “vulnerable” mindset heading into their Saudi showdown and is fully intent on capitalising on it this weekend.
A win on Saturday night would be life-changing for Wallin. WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman has confirmed that the winner of Joshua vs Wallin and Deontay Wilder vs Joseph Parker will advance to a WBC final eliminator for a shot at the green strap which is being contested for in the undisputed fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk in February.
Fans will be hoping Joshua and Wilder come through their respective bouts unscathed so they can finally square off early next year but Wallin has other ideas. “I have been working with my psychologist since 2012 – a guy from my hometown so I am very happy with that,” said Wallin.
“I saw Joshua say I act like a psychologist because I talked about his mindset and he joked that I could be his psychologist, maybe I could, who knows.
“I learned so much and developed mentally, I was a huge underdog against Fury and left it all in the ring and it will be the same here. I think it gives me so much mentally and physically. He taught me to go out of my comfort zone and fight to win, not fight to lose. That’s AJ’s problem, he is fighting to not lose, rather than to put on a good performance and win.
“He is not doing everything he can to win. Me and my training team have been together for 10 years so they know what I can and can’t do, what I need, what I need to work on. We have a really good bond and we trust each other. They can tell me straight up and never be scared of getting dumped or fired.”
According to esteemed boxing journalist Dan Rafael, Wilder and Joshua have agreed a two-fight deal to take place after their upcoming bouts. Wilder and Joshua’s representatives have reportedly met with Saudi officials this week, agreed on all terms and received contracts, which are expected to be signed by the two boxers before they enter the ring on Saturday.
Both fighters have been in talks to face each other multiple times to no avail. The closest they came to getting a deal over the line was back in 2018 when they were at the peak of their powers and held all four major sanctioning body world titles between them. Wilder offered Joshua £41million ($50m) upfront to fight him but AJ rejected it on grounds that it ‘clashed with his partnerships’.