Swedish heavyweight contender Otto Wallin recently held an interview off the back of his technical knockout (TKO) loss to Anthony Joshua where he shattered Lennox Lewis’ recent claims of not being in proper fighting shape. During an exclusive interview with Boxing News, Wallin made no excuses as he reflected on his December 23 night against Joshua.

“I felt good going into the fight, I felt confident, I felt that I had a really good chance of winning,” said Otto Wallin (26-2, 14 KO’s).

“Of course I took him [Joshua] very seriously, I know he’s one of the best fighters out there and I really have no excuses. He was just better, I think.“

Wallin’s attitude shows a remarkable amount of humility that has thus far been rarely witnessed in the sport. As is usually the case, most fighters that end up losing and subsequently interviewed tend to accompany their statements with excuses. In most cases, a losing fighter first congratulates the victor before claiming they are making no excuses, only to immediately dive into a flurry of excuses to apparently cope with their loss.

Wallin’s words were further a direct contradiction to Lennox Lewis’ belief that Otto Wallin had not had been trained properly despite there being no evidence to prove the contrary. Wallin later reiterated during his interview with Boxing News that there had been no issues in regards to his preparation.

“He [Joshua] hit me with some good body shots and I’m always ready for that, [always] prepared for that, but I think they [Joshua’s team] had a good gameplan,” said Wallin.

“He felt like a good fighter. Obviously it was a much tougher fight than I had with [Tyson] Fury, and he did really well. Maybe he has found his home with Ben Davison.“

Despite having been one of the most accomplished Swedish amateurs in boxing history, Otto Wallin remained under the radar for years during his tenure as a professional until he faced current WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (34-0-1, 24 KO’s) in 2019 where he confounded critics by putting up an underrated performance against Fury in a match that would have been stopped under normal circumstances due to the extremely deep cut that Fury suffered on his forehead.

Since then, Wallin has gradually moved up the rankings in subsequent fights to become considered a top 10 heavyweight prior to facing Anthony Joshua (27-3, 24 KO’s). The Swedish heavyweight was naturally disappointed with his most recent loss to Joshua but also appeared to take inspiration from Joseph Parker (34-3, 23 KO’s), who recently dumbfounded onlookers by defeating former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KO’s) on December 23rd―after a rough couple of years where Parker lost twice.

“It’s kind of inspiring that you can see that it can be done,” said Wallin in regards to Parker’s resurgence as a top heavyweight.

“So it’s not the end of the world when you lose. You can always come back, if you want to.“