After a mixed couple of years inside the ring, Anthony Joshua seems to be back to his best.
The past 12 months have been a rebuild for Joshua after losing his IBF, WBA and WBO world heavyweight titles to Oleksandr Usyk, and following wins over Jermaine Franklin, Robert Helenius and Otto Wallin, many fans are expecting the British star to challenge for a world title at some point in 2024.
The victories over Franklin and Helenius were met with a mixed response with some claims that Joshua looked a shadow of his former self, but then these critics were silenced on December 23 when Joshua stopped Wallin in the fifth round of their heavyweight contest in Saudi Arabia.
This performance received plenty of praise from those within the sport including Deontay Wilder's trainer Malik Scott, who explained what Joshua did well against his Swedish opponent.
“I thought he did a lot better than he did his last fights, he wasn’t as hesitant, even when he stepped up on Wallin he did it from behind his front knee and he went to the body first. He was punching with bad intentions at Wallin’s guard," Scott told Mill City Boxing.
“He was throwing hooks inside of Wallin hooks. That’s what I was impressed with the most, how short AJ’s hooks was. And that’s what broke Wallin’s nose.
“If AJ had been throwing wide hooks, he would have probably clipped Wallin from an equilibrium type of standpoint. But the hooks was so short while Wallin was hooking from a southpaw standpoint, that the hooks was getting right in. And they was getting in on his nose.
“To be sharpshooting like that, you have to be extremely, extremely focused and concentrating on your guy. AJ did a few things very well, very well.
“Lot of pressure was on him, and he came in and handled business and did what he had to do. When a man does himself well, to me there is only one thing to do, give him credit and wish him well. And AJ did.”
While December 23 was a night to remember for Joshua, it was the opposite for Scott and Wilder who were on the wrong end of a unanimous decision loss to former world heavyweight champion Joseph Parker.