Anthony Joshua ended Otto Wallin in brutal fashion as his opponent failed to come back after being hurt in the fith round.
Joshua was fighting knowing that his planned fight against Deontay Wilder next year was thrown into disarray after Joseph Parker had won convincingly in the co-main event.
That meant that the Briton needed to focus on the task at hand to avoid another upset, with Wallin having shown his durability and danger in 2019 against Tyson Fury, and Joshua rebuilding after defeats to Oleksandr Usyk in 2021 and 2022.
Wins against Jermaine Franklin and Robert Helenius had given Joshua something to build on with new trainer Ben Davison after two American trainers, while Wallin was hoping for the biggest win over his career.
Joshua had given questions short shrift in the runup to the bout as he cut a determined figure, and he started off brightly in the first couple of rounds as he showed all the initiative against a flat-footed opponent.
The former unified champion was finding Wallin a fairly static target and had him doubled over in the corner in the fourth round, and in the fifth he had Wallin even more rattled against the ropes.
With the Swede back on his seat after the fifth, his team conferred and decided that there had already been enough damage done, and they decided enough was enough.
Joshua started 2023 under pressure, and now he ends it with optimism.
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