By: Hans Themistode
After a decisively competitive defeat by consensus against current WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in 2019, Otto Wallin has slowly fought his way back into the heavyweight ladder.
In what the 31-year-old hopes will be an intense schedule of fights in 2022, he will officially return to the ring in a week’s time.
“I’m pleased to announce that I will be fighting next Saturday in Cardiff Wales, on February 5,” Wallin said on a self-reported video. “I will fight Kamil Sokolowski.”
By all accounts, the confrontation with Sokolowski was not the match Wallin had expected. The 35-year-old driver has just two wins in his last 12 appearances, including an unfortunate loss to newcomer Ihor Shevadzutskyi in December 2021.
However, while Wallin openly admits that his upcoming showdown isn’t a memorable one, he wants consistency at this point in his career.
After losing to Fury nearly three years ago, Wallin has only participated twice. Despite the idleness, Wallin got the most notable win of his career in the first quarter of 2021.
The highly ranked heavyweight finds himself engaged in a back-and-forth battle with repeated title challenger Dominic Breazeale. Despite Wallin’s decisive height, weight, and disadvantage – he carefully overcame and took down his much larger foe, en route to a decisive wide victory.
Although he has remained on the sidelines since then, an agreement was reached between Wallin and current WBC interim player Dillian Whyte. Admittedly, Wallin saw the Whyte match as an opportunity to prove himself on a much larger stage. However, Wallin was ultimately furious when Whyte was forced to withdraw from their competition due to a shoulder injury.
Considering that Wallin’s match against Breazeale was almost a year ago, the highly ranked heavyweight contender simply wanted to use his upcoming bout as a way to perfect his skills, co. while keeping himself in the picture of heavy titles.
“It would be nice to get a fight and get rid of the ring’s rust. Hopefully in the near future, we will have a bigger fight.”
