Boxing: Joshua agrees to fight Wallin in Saudi bout

Anthony Joshua has agreed to fight Otto Wallin in Saudi Arabia on December 23 with Deontay Wilder set to face off with Joseph Parker on the same night.

Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk were set to meet in their historic undisputed heavyweight title fight on that date in Riyadh.

READ ALSO: Al-Hilal ponder major contract adjustment for Neymar after injury

However, the ‘The Gypsy King’s bruising night at the office against Francis Ngannou in October has seen that date pushed back to February.

Boxing officials in Saudi have decided the show will go on and are in the process of assembling a huge night of boxing for that night just before Christmas.

Both Joshua and Wilder are working to finish deals with Turki Alalshikh of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, the man most responsible for bringing Fury and Ngannou together last month.

While the plan is for the heavyweight rivals to face each other in 2024, the December card will have them in action in separate fights.

Should those deals be finalised this week, two-time heavyweight champion Joshua will take on Wallin in the main event. The Swedish southpaw has won 26 of his 28 professional fights with his only blemish coming against Fury in 2019.