21 December 2023 , 12:43
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Otto Wallin has criticised promoter Eddie Hearn for putting a rematch clause in the contract for his fight with Anthony Joshua.
Wallin looks to extend his unbeaten run to seven fights when he meets 'AJ' on Saturday night at the 'Day of Reckoning' event in Saudi Arabia. Joshua has already agreed terms to fight Deontay Wilder in March should he get past Wallin as the American is also in action against Joseph Parker in the co-main event.
The Swede admitted he will be forced to fight Joshua again if he pulls off an upset, telling TNT Sports of the rematch clause: "They have that in the contract, on his side, but I hadn't spoken about it to anyone but suddenly Eddie Hearn was speaking about it in an interview so of course I'm going to start getting questions about it so I will give my opinion.
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"I think it's silly, he's not world champion anymore and the only reason he would have a rematch clause is because they are scared of losing. Eddie Hearn was digging into me, he hit me with everything but the kitchen sink. he was really going after me. He said I won the lottery to be here but I want to tell him I've been working since I was 15 to be here, I've won 26 fights and I've worked extremely hard and sacrificed a lot to be here, it's not a lottery win."
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Hearn defended his decision to put a rematch clause in Wallin's contract as "traditional business" and said it's common practice for the promoter of any top-level boxer to do so. The Matchroom Boxing boss also insisted that Joshua has never once requested for a rematch clause to be added to any of his past opponents contracts.
“That’s the business side of the sport, you protect your interest. It’s not my interests, it’s the interest of my fighter. If AJ was to get beat, yeah you put that in place. You know what’s going to happen is Otto Wallin thinks he should make £30million for the rematch and you don’t get an opportunity to avenge the defeat," he told iFL TV.
"Joshua has never said once going into any fight ‘Oh, do I have a rematch clause?’ You think he is thinking about losing this fight? No. Anybody going into this event, Joseph Parker, any big A-side. It’s traditional business, tough s***. Don’t hate the player, hate the game. I put them in, blame me don’t blame anybody else. You don’t have to sign it, it wasn’t even a big seal for them to sign it. They just understand what comes with the territory of fighting one of the top-three biggest names in the world."