Dmitriy Salita senses Tyson Fury isn’t taking Otto Wallin seriously.
Fury appeared overconfident, according to Wallin’s promoter, when they spent time together recently promoting their September 14 fight at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. That’s fine by Salita, who predicted his Swedish southpaw will surprise Fury and everyone else that has criticized Fury for fighting him.
“Tyson Fury’s a great fighter,” Salita told BoxingScene.com. “But based on the fact that there’s a date scheduled for his next fight and the things that I’ve been hearing, he’s obviously overlooking Otto. That is definitely to Otto’s advantage. … When we were doing the ESPN interviews, you could see that he already feels that he won the fight. He feels like he just has to show up at the office. As a fighter, when you step into the ring and you feel the fight’s gonna be easy, and then it gets tough, in the fight it’s very difficult to change your mindset and turn it up to the level that’s needed to be victorious.”
The 6-feet-9, 260-pound Fury (28-0-1, 20 KOs) is consistently listed as a 25-1 favorite over the 6-feet-5, 230-pound Wallin. The 28-year-old Wallin is undefeated (20-0, 13 KOs, 1 NC), but he hasn’t been tested at the championship level.
The unknown Wallin has largely been dismissed as an opponent to help keep Fury busy before he faces WBC champ Deontay Wilder (41-0-1, 40 KOs) in a rematch tentatively scheduled for February 22. The lack of respect fans and media have shown him has motivated Wallin, who has fought just part of one round since he defeated fellow Swede Adrian Granat (15-2, 14 KOs) by unanimous decision in their 12-rounder 16 months ago in Sundsvall, Sweden, Wallin’s hometown.
“Don’t sleep on Otto Wallin,” Salita said. “He’s working hard, he’s undefeated, he knows his place. He knows all the benefits. He knows he has nothing to lose and everything to win, and he’s a disciplined, strong-minded individual. He’s not gonna go into the ring intimidated. Tyson Fury did a tremendous job against Wilder and against Tom Schwarz, but Tom didn’t really show up.”
Fury knocked of Germany’s Schwarz (25-1, 17 KOs) in the second round June 15 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Schwarz’s performance aside, Salita has been impressed by Fury’s overall ability to thrive following a 2½ year layoff.
“People thought Wilder would destroy him because he looked so average and vulnerable,” Salita said. “In the two comeback fights, he just looked regular. And that’s probably because those two fights [against Sefer Sefari and Francesco Pianeta], he didn’t really prepare for mentally. You didn’t see any power in those two fights. You didn’t see the special abilities you saw in the fight with Wilder.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
