Anthony Joshua vs. Otto Wallin

Day of Reckoning

Date	23 December 2023
Venue	Kingdom Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Tale of the tape
Boxer Anthony Joshua Otto Wallin Nickname "AJ" "All In" Hometown Watford, Hertfordshire, UK Sundsvall, Västernorrland, Sweden Pre-fight record 26–3 (23 KO) 26–2 (1) (14 KO) Age 34 years, 2 months 33 years, 1 month Height 6 ft 6 in (198 cm) 6 ft 5+1⁄2 in (197 cm) Weight 251 lb (114 kg) 238.6 lb (108 kg) Style Orthodox Southpaw Recognition WBO No. 1 Ranked Heavyweight WBC/The Ring No. 2 Ranked Heavyweight WBA/IBF/TBRB No. 3 Ranked Heavyweight Former 2 time unified heavyweight champion IBF No. 2 Ranked Heavyweight WBC No. 9 Ranked Heavyweight WBO No. 12 Ranked Heavyweight TBRB No. 4 Ranked Heavyweight The Ring No. 10 Ranked Heavyweight WBA inter-continental heavyweight champion
Result
Joshua wins by corner retirement in 6 rounds

The Day of Reckoning, was the billing of a professional boxing event. While the fight card consists of eight fights, two heavyweight fights serve as co-main events. The first, Anthony Joshua vs. Otto Wallin was contested between English former WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and Swedish WBA inter-continental heavyweight champion Otto Wallin. The second, Deontay Wilder vs. Joseph Parker, was contested between American former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder and New Zealand IBF and WBO inter-continental heavyweight champion Joseph Parker.

The event took place on 23 December 2023 at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Background and build up

Anthony Joshua (top left), Otto Wallin (top right), Deontay Wilder (bottom left) and Joseph Parker (bottom right)

In October 2023, it was reported that a bout between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk was being targeted for 23 December in Saudi Arabia with Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder serving as the co-feature.

On 25 October, it was announced that Fury and Uysk was signed for 23 December. On 27 October, Fury fought and defeated former UFC Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou which resulted in the bout with Usyk to be postponed due to the injuries Fury sustained.

On 11 November, reports began to state that Joshua and Wilder could be fighting on the same card on 23 December. On 15 November, it was officially announced that Joshua would face Otto Wallin and Wilder would face Joseph Parker on 23 December in Riyadh with a launch press conference in London.

The bill featured the number one ranked heavyweight contenders from all four main boxing sanctioning bodies Deontay Wilder (WBC/WBA), Filip Hrgović (IBF) and Anthony Joshua (WBO).

The fights

Undercard

Former world title challenger Daniel Dubois (WBC:14th WBA:7th IBF/WBO:8th) scored a dramatic stoppage of previously undefeated Jarrell Miller (WBA:6th) with only 10 seconds left in the final round.

Bivol vs Arthur

In the second of two world title bout on the card, WBA Light Heavyweight Champion Dmitry Bivol returned from a 14 month layoff to win a wide points victory over IBO titleholder (and WBA No. 8 ranked) Lyndon Arthur.

Wilder vs Parker

Day of Reckoning: Deontay Wilder vs. Joseph Parker

Title(s) on the line	WBO Inter-Continental and vacant WBC International heavyweight titles
Tale of the tape
Boxer Deontay Wilder Joseph Parker Nickname "The Bronze Bomber" "Lupesoliai La'auliolemalietoa" Hometown Tuscaloosa, Alabama, U.S. Auckland, Auckland Region, New Zealand Pre-fight record 43–2–1 (42 KO) 33–3 (23 KOs) Age 38 years, 2 months 31 years, 11 months Height 6 ft 7 in (201 cm) 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) Weight 214 lb (97 kg) 241+1⁄4 lb (109 kg) Style Orthodox Orthodox Recognition WBC/WBA No. 1 Ranked Heavyweight WBO No. 9 Ranked Heavyweight The Ring No. 3 Ranked Heavyweight Former WBC heavyweight champion WBO No. 3 Ranked Heavyweight IBF No. 4 Ranked Heavyweight WBC No. 9 Ranked Heavyweight The Ring No. 5 Ranked Heavyweight WBO Inter-Continental heavyweight champion Former WBO heavyweight champion
Result
Parker wins by unanimous decision in 12 rounds

The penultimate bout on the card saw former world champions Deontay Wilder and Joseph Parker faceoff for the WBO Inter-Continental and vacant WBC International heavyweight titles

Wilder entered the ring having boxed just three minutes in the past two years, whereas Parker had fought three times already in 2023. Despite this the bookmakers had Wilder as the 5/1 on favourite to win, with Parker the 9/2 underdog.

The fight

Parker came forward with bursts and was generally the busier and more accurate boxer. He made use of looping right hands over the top to make Wilder reluctant to throw his trademark reckless right hand. At the end of 8th round an overhand right from Parker put Wilder in trouble before he was saved by the bell. Wilder failed to trouble Parker throughout the rest of the bout and after 12 rounds two of the judges scored it 118–110 and the third 120–108 all for Parker.

According to CompuBox Parker out landed Wilder, landing with 89 of 255 punches thrown (34.9% connect rate) to just 39 of 204 (19.1% connect rate) from Wilder.

Aftermath

In his post fight interview Parker said "Dangerous fight, a tough fight but we trained very hard for this. People had other plans, but this is God's plan. Today we got the win and Merry Christmas to us! Deontay's got a new coach and maybe he's applying the new things he's working on, but maybe inactivity played a part."

Speaking to TNT Sports in the aftermath Eddie Hearn said "Wilder had no idea, no clue. He lost every round. He had his hand up telling the referees he won the fight. He's not right. That's the reality. It was the most one-sided heavyweight fight I've ever seen. It's ruined our plans. We've got to go let Anthony Joshua know Wilder lost to Parker."

Wilder for his part praised Parker saying "He did a great job avoiding a lot of my punches. We make no excuses tonight. It was a good fight, and we move on to the next thing."

Joshua vs Wallin

Joshua put on a dominant performance in his first bout with new trainer Ben Davidson. After multiple rounds of calculated pressure punching, Joshua hurt Wallin with a hard left hook in the 5th. After Joshua dominated the rest of the round, causing extensive damage to Wallin's face, the Swede's corner pulled him out in-between rounds.

Aftermath

With Wilder's one sided defeat, plans for a showdown with Joshua were dropped and speculation moved towards a bout with either Filip Hrgović or Zhilei Zhang.

Fight card

Confirmed bouts:

Weight class		vs		Method	Round	Time	Notes
Main Card (PPV)
Heavyweight	Anthony Joshua	def.	Otto Wallin	RTD	5 (12)	3:00
Heavyweight	Joseph Parker (c)	def.	Deontay Wilder	UD	12		Note 1
Light heavyweight	Dmitry Bivol (c)	def.	Lyndon Arthur (c)	UD	12		Note 2
Heavyweight	Daniel Dubois	def.	Jarrell Miller	TKO	10 (10)	2:52
Heavyweight	Agit Kabayel	def.	Arslanbek Makhmudov	TKO	4 (10)	2:03
Cruiserweight	Jai Opetaia (c)	def.	Ellis Zorro	KO	1 (12)	2:56	Note 2
Heavyweight	Filip Hrgović	def.	Mark de Mori	TKO	1 (10)	1:46
Heavyweight	Frank Sánchez	def.	Junior Fa	TKO	7 (10)	2:42

^Note 1 For WBO Inter-Continental and vacant WBC International heavyweight titles
^Note 2 For WBA (Super) and IBO light-heavyweight titles
^Note 3 For The Ring cruiserweight title

Broadcasting

The event was available on PPV, via DAZN globally (including UK and Ireland).

In the UK and Ireland, the PPV was also available on TNT Sports Box Office.