The Swedish southpaw took Fury the distance, inflicting a cut so bad that there couldn’t have been many complaints if the referee had stopped it early. The Brit battled through bloodily, though, and took a unanimous decision on the scorecards. Post-fight he would split with trainer Ben Davison in favour of SugarHill Steward, who he has been with since.
In an interesting turn of events, Davison was the man Joshua chose for his corner earlier this year, their first together fight being Wallin. ‘AJ’ demolished him, landing significant blows to body and head before the Swede, who suffered a fractured nose, was retired by his corner after the fifth.
Speaking to Sun Sport after both bouts, Wallin confirmed that the tougher fight was against Joshua but still made Fury the favourite in an all-British heavyweight clash.
“I feel like Joshua is a very good fighter, very good power, very good counter puncher. I feel like he definitely has a shot with Fury. And you just never know what Tyson Fury shows up. I still have a hard time going against Tyson in that fight.
But, the fights if you compare it my fight against Joshua was a lot tougher than the one I had against Fury. That doesn’t mean everything but I give Joshua more of a chance than I did before. But I still would probably pick Fury as the favourite.”
There’s a chance the fight still happens after years of stumbling blocks and failed talks. Fury, who lost out on the chance at becoming undisputed when he was beaten by Oleksandr Usyk in May, will rematch the Ukrainian in December. Meanwhile, Joshua faces newly-elevated world champion Daniel Dubois on September 21.