Dominic Breazeale 20-2 (18) knows he has something to prove when he takes on Otto Wallin 21-1 (14) at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut on Saturday night.
The 35-year-old Californian will be having his first fight back since being knocked out in the opening round by then-WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder 42-1-1 (41) in May 2019
“It’s true you’re only as good as your last fight, but at the same time I feel like this is my coming out party. It feels like my pro debut. I’ve been off for a long time and had a great training camp so I’m ready for Saturday night,” Breazeale said.
“After my last fight against Wilder I took a few days to digest the loss and then was back in the gym about 10 days later. I didn’t want to harp on it or let it bother me. There wasn’t really a sense of urgency, but I knew there were going to be changes and I knew they had to be done in the next couple of weeks. I focused on my eating and my training and, of course, the biggest change of all was my trainer change from Virgil Hunter to Abel Sanchez.
“Switching to Abel and training up in Big Bear has been huge and something I wish I would have done years ago. Abel actually has something written on the wall that says, ‘Imagine what if.’ And I imagine ‘what if’ every night. Like I said, I wish I would have done this a year ago, but my conditioning and my confidence are at an all-time high.
“Some people might have thought I would have wanted to get back in there with a pushover, but I’ve always wanted to fight the top guys. I saw the Otto Wallin fight and the performance he gave against Tyson Fury and then Travis Kauffman. When the name was brought to my attention, I jumped all over it. I knew that the boxing world would respect the fight against myself and Otto.
“I don’t think Otto’s been in there with a big, strong, athletic guy like myself. Mike Tyson said it best: ‘Everyone’s got a game plan until you get punched in the mouth.’”
Swedish southpaw Wallin, 30, was last in action in August when he stopped Travis Kauffman 32-4 (23) in five frames. That performance followed his strong showing against Tyson Fury 30-0-1 (21) when he had the current WBC champion badly cut and bleeding from above the right eye before eventually going down on points.
“Everybody wants to ask about my fight with Tyson Fury and they forget that I’ve done a lot more than that,” Wallin said. “But it was a great performance and I understand that most people hadn’t seen me fight before. It was a great fight and it was better than what most people thought. I’m kind of over that now. I want to move forward. It’s nice to move forward. It’s nice to be on Showtime fighting with Breazeale, who has a good name. So hopefully with this fight, I beat him and move on so people can see I’m able to beat good guys.
“I think I’m more well-rounded than Breazeale. Also, you can’t forget that I’m actually 6’ 6”, 240, so I’m not that small. I know a lot of people look at me like I’m smaller but I’m not that small. With that being said, I’m smarter, got a great team, we’ve had a great camp and I’m really good too. I’m faster than Dominic, I have better footwork and better defence. So I’ve got to bring all of that in there, do what I’m good at and I’ll be fine.
“I think a win will hopefully help me move past Fury. But also it will put my name up there, to solidify my spot there. I don’t think this fight will get me a title shot but it will be a good shot on the way.
“I think you can expect a good fight, two good fighters. Dominic probably feels he has a point to prove and probably going to come out and be aggressive and try to come after me. I’m sure I won’t have to look for him and I’m ready for that. People can expect an exciting fight and a good night of boxing.
“Dominic is an aggressive guy so I have to be smart. I have to be who I am and set him up and I think I will be able to do that.
“I don’t feel a lot of pressure. I just have to be myself and I have to do what I do, what I’m good at. This is a big opportunity for me so I try to be positive. I waited a long time to get to this level, I’m finally here and I’m not going back.”
