Transcript of Otto Wallin on BoxingInsider Radio – Tyson Fury Fight aftermath

Otto Wallin appeared on BoxingInsider.com Radio this week. BoxingInsider Radio airs every Tuesday Night on iTunes, Spotify, and BoxingInsider.com

Larry Goldberg:     All right. This is the segment we’ve been waiting for. We’ve got Otto Wallin in studio. Otto Wallin Took it to Tyson Fury, and you cut him with a hook out of-

Jose Guzman:        Hook? He hit him with everything. What are you talking about? Did you see his face?

Larry Goldberg:     I saw his face.

Jose Guzman:        His face was ugly. He was already ugly.

Larry Goldberg:     He may never be the same again.

Jose Guzman:        Listen, let me tell you something. You hit this guy, you f-cked him up so much-

Jose Guzman:        You cut him up so much that this guy went into wrestling. He don’t want to come back. He’s talking about fighting in the UFC. Listen. You scarred this, you literally scarred this man for life.

Curtis Jones:       You scarred him for life, man.

Henry Deleon:       he’s going to remember you for the rest of his career, Otto.

Jose Guzman:        Listen. Listen. Every time this guy looks himself in the mirror, he’s going to look at his face like, “Damn, that f–king Wallin.”

Henry Deleon:       That Viking. That Viking.

Curtis Jones:       I’ve got a question for you. Was you trying to wipe the sweat off his face, or the blood off his eyebrow?

Otto Wallin:        No, I was just trying to comfort him

Curtis Jones:       Well, that’s, honestly-

Otto Wallin:       he was looking a little sad.

Larry Goldberg:     WE’ll get to that. We’ll get to that. But it started off nobody except some of us knew really who you were. Curtis, could you like to tell us what you thought when this fight was announced?

Curtis Jones:       I saw he was sparring in Gleason’s. I was like who is this guy here? I thought you were going to get killed. I thought you was going to get killed. But when I flicked on ESPN Plus 

Curtis Jones:       I clicked on it, and I saw his eye. I was like OMG. Oh my God. That’s what that mean. You know that, right? Pause. Pause. You know there’s a language barrier here. No, but you actually took it straight to him. I was so shocked. I was so shocked, and yo, you won a big fan right here. Then, when you rubbed his face, that was my favorite part. Oh, you rubbed his face hard, son … Yo, yo, you got to teach me that, son. [inaudible 00:40:24], son. That was gangsta, son.

Jose Guzman:        That was my favorite part. That was my favorite part of the fight. I was like this guy is trying to do whatever it takes to win.

Curtis Jones:       Yo, let me ask you a question. You know when you cut the laces, sometimes, they be like, “Don’t cut the laces. They going to charge you $100 a lace.” Did they charge you for all that blood on that damn lace that you rubbed across his eye?

Otto Wallin:        No, but you should see my pants. My pants, I got-

Curtis Jones:       But the pants are black.

Otto Wallin:        Yeah, but there is still some gold, some blue, [crosstalk 00:40:53].

Henry Deleon:       There wasn’t gold and blue no more.

Jose Guzman:        My favorite part was-

Otto Wallin:     I wanted to use them the next fight, but I can’t.

Jose Guzman:        I’ve never seen this, but you made him take off his trunks in the middle of the ring.

Otto Wallin:        Yeah, what was that about? I don’t know.

Curtis Jones:       Yo, he was practicing for wrestling with the tighties on.

Otto Wallin:        That was crazy. I don’t know.

Jose Guzman:        Now, I want you to tell us how did it feel? This was literally the biggest fight of your life. Your father had just passed away.

Henry Deleon:       Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.

Otto Wallin:        Thank you.

Jose Guzman:        This was you gave it your all. How did it feel going 12 rounds and fighting your heart out, and proving to everybody that you belong in the top heavyweights?

Otto Wallin:        I was happy, when we got the fight, because I knew I was going to be a problem for him … I thought that it was some things that people haven’t done to him that I wanted to do, and I think that I did a good job. I wanted to win, of course. That was a little disappointing. But I know I did, I gave my all, and I did a good fight. A lot of people saw that I’m for real now, so I have arrived, and I’m going to stay here, and I’m ready to go further.

Jose Guzman:        I want you to tell me about the eye scratch. Tell me.

Otto Wallin:        What do you mean?

Jose Guzman:        What was going through you head? What was going through you head, and what, why did you do it, and how many times did you do it? That’s what I want to know.

Henry Deleon:       What was going through you head? I want to know.

Otto Wallin:        How many times?

Jose Guzman:        How many times did you do that?

Otto Wallin:        No, but it’s a fight.

Jose Guzman:        It’s a fight.

Otto Wallin:        You’ve got to do what you can do to win.

Henry Deleon:       Now, let me ask you guys, actually, sorry, brother. Because this is the perfect moment, I think. You guys spoke about the it factor. You remember that?

Jose Guzman:        That’s the it factor right there.

Henry Deleon:       Would you guys consider him doing tha

Jose Guzman:        Listen. That’s what makes a fighter. You do whatever it takes. I don’t care if I’ve got to hit you in your nuts, behind your head. I’m going to [crosstalk 00:42:42].

Jose Guzman:        Larry, I remember when Otto first came to the gym, you was calling him out. Call him out now.

Otto Wallin:        He’s always calling me out. He’s called me out this morning.

Curtis Jones:       Oh, my God.

Jose Guzman:        Yo, but honestly, you, at the time-

Larry Goldberg:     No, honestly, the first time I met him, I thought he was just like another white collar fighter, and he’s hitting the heavy bag next to me, and all of a sudden- It was like gunfire is going off. It was just like oh my God. Otto was just destroying-

Jose Guzman:        Yo, honestly, at the time, when you fought Tyson Fury, he was arguably the best heavyweight in the world. You didn’t have any jitters?

Otto Wallin:        If I had, I mean, to be honest, I was happy with having no pressure. I just wanted to go in there and beat him and win, and show everybody wrong. To be honest, it felt, before the fight, it felt good. Henry was there. He was in the locker room, so he knows.

Curtis Jones:       Oh, Henry was there?

Larry Goldberg:       Henry, now that we’ve got, since this was brought up, can you tell us a little bit about your weekend? You were on it as the official photographer.

Henry Deleon:       Well, listen. I think in the lead up to it, I got there the day of the, I think it was the press conference, I believe. Otto was totally quiet. I think this is what stuck with me the most. He was totally quiet, in the lead up to the fight. He wasn’t disrespecting Tyson Fury. Tyson Fury was trying to get into Otto’s head. Otto just played it cool. He wasn’t able to play those psychological games he usually does with his opponents. Then, well, after the weight-in, Otto comes up, and he gets into Tyson Fury’s face, and he’s like, “Okay, now’s the time. Now, I’m going to get you. Now, I’m going to get you.” I think that kind of took Tyson Fury a bit back, because it wasn’t expected. Otto was playing the nice guy.

Curtis Jones:       He didn’t show no respect. He didn’t show no respect. That’s what up.

Henry Deleon:       Until that very moment, when he was like, “Okay, now I’m going to get you. Now I’m going to get you.”

Curtis Jones:       The sounds of a hit-man act, to me.

Otto Wallin:        No, but like you said, about the fight we talked about before, that guy was starstruck. What was it? Covela.

Curtis Jones:       Covela, he was starstruck.

Otto Wallin:        Hey, man. I mean, how can you be starstruck? Are you there to win, or what?

Curtis Jones:       I mean, he’s not a great singer.

Henry Deleon:       Hey, he didn’t sing after this fight.

Curtis Jones:       No, hell no.

Otto Wallin:        He didn’t sing, no.

Henry Deleon:       You gave him [crosstalk 00:45:07].

Otto Wallin:        That’s true.

Henry Deleon:       He didn’t have nothing left.

Curtis Jones:       I heard it was, the only song that was playing was whoo whoo whoo to the hospital to get that thing in. He had to get a new eye.

Jose Guzman:        Now, I want to know about your relationship with Joey Gamache.

Curtis Jones:       Joey. My boy. Man.

Jose Guzman:        Leading up to the fight, and after the fight. What was the game plan, on the fight and on Tyson Fury?

Otto Wallin:        Where do you want me to start? With the fight?

Jose Guzman:        Wherever you want.

Henry Deleon:       Wherever you want to start.

Otto Wallin:        The relationship, or the fight?

Curtis Jones:       I’m giving him the eight count. One. Two.

Larry Goldberg:     Start with the relationship and get into the fight.

Otto Wallin:        Yeah, the relationship. We met in Denmark six years ago, because I had a European promoter. I was fighting over there, and Joey, he worked for this promoter as a trainer. I started training with him, and I felt like we clicked right away. We had a, we’ve been growing together. I always knew that he was going to take me far, and he has a lot of contacts, and all the experience that’s needed. He’s a great trainer, so I’m very happy with Joe, and he’s a great person, too. But for this fight, the game plan was a lot to stay to the body, because these other guys haven’t done that.

Curtis Jones:       You threw a lot of body shots.

Otto Wallin:        Yeah. Everybody trying to knock him out to the head. That shows to be very difficult, and he’s a big guy. He has good movement. Everything. Why you want to go for the head? Hit the body. That was working good, so it’s going to be interesting to see now how these other guys does with him. If they going to take something from this fight.

Curtis Jones:       [crosstalk 00:46:37] took something from him.

Henry Deleon:       Now, let me ask you, Otto, because I think I believe I remember the commentators mentioning that a lot of the credit had to be given to Joey Gamash after the fight, because he kept you in the fight. Can you give us a little bit on the inside? What he was saying to you in between rounds to keep you motivated. To keep you fighting during the fight of Tyson Fury.

Otto Wallin:        He kept me motivated. It’s hard to recall everything, to be honest. Because it was a tough fight and everything. But I remember before the last fight, in the last round, he said that I just got to go out there and let it all, leave it all in the ring. That’s what I did. I won the 12th round good, and yeah, we, Joey, he doesn’t always have to say so much to me, because we know each other very well, and we’ve been training so much, and he’s been my trainer for almost my whole pro career. He can just, he doesn’t have to say too much. I know what his thinking.

Curtis Jones:       What I want to say, in a rematch, if you was ever to get a rematch with Tyson Fury, do you think, how would you think that fight would go? Given now that you’ve been on that big stage, and you’ve fought the hard 12 rounds. What do you see that fight, where do you see that fight happening? What would be the outcome?

Otto Wallin:        I would win.

Curtis Jones:       How would you win?

Otto Wallin:        I would win because I mean, if we start with this fight, maybe I focused a little bit too much on the cut, and tried to hit the cut … I got off the body a little bit.

Curtis Jones:       Scratch the cut, hit the cut. Scratch the cut.

Otto Wallin:        Don’t say that.

Henry Deleon:       To be fair, I think that was only your second time fighting a 12 round fight, right?

Otto Wallin:        Yeah, yeah.

Curtis Jones:       Yeah, 12 round fight. That’s what I’m trying to say. That the lack of inexperience. That’s what I meant to say. The lack of inexperience. Now that you have the experience of going 12 rounds, what would you do?

Otto Wallin:        Yeah. Also, I had almost been out for 18 months before that. I fought one round in 18 months, and then, I fought Fury.

Curtis Jones:       Wow. Wow.

Otto Wallin:        Yeah. Imagine if I can get a few fights, and then get back in there with him.

Jose Guzman:        Now, there was a little controversy with the cut.

Curtis Jones:       It should have been stopped.

Jose Guzman:        One of the commentators goes to the corner, and basically tells them, “The cut was actually a punch. It wasn’t a head butt.” They’re not supposed to do that. The referee didn’t say nothing. He basically informed them, “Listen. It was a punch. It wasn’t an accidental head butt.”

Larry Goldberg:     That never happens.

Curtis Jones:       You should have been at [inaudible 00:48:56]. That should have been stopped.

Jose Guzman:        That should have been stopped. Did you guys protest it? Did you guys protest it, because TV is not supposed to interfere.

Henry Deleon:       Had that cut been on you, Otto … I guarantee that they would have stopped that fight.

Jose Guzman:        Yeah, I’m sure they would have, yeah.

Curtis Jones:       Of course.

Larry Goldberg:     Oh God, yeah.

Otto Wallin:        Yeah, of course. [crosstalk 00:49:09].

Henry Deleon:       Now, let me ask you. How excited were you whenever the doctor came into the ring to check that cut?

Jose Guzman:        The new, the new.

Otto Wallin:        No, but I hit him. My knuckle still hurts, actually. Because I hit him with that [inaudible 00:49:21], and opened that cut.

Curtis Jones:       You see that forehead on him?

Jose Guzman:        He got a big ass-

Henry Deleon:       No. I saw it. It was a clean cut … The cut was open with, it was a clean punch.

Jose Guzman:        All bull.

Otto Wallin:        I saw it right away, and I was happy. I was almost celebrating in the ring. I did a little dance.

Jose Guzman:        Listen, a lot of people don’t know, but you actually basically-

Curtis Jones:       Damaged his rib.

Jose Guzman:        Relocated for a while here in New York City. How do you like New York City now? A lot of people don’t know, you was actually living in Washington Heights. You took a little bit of New York there with you, scratching that eye.

Otto Wallin:        Yeah, but I like New York. It’s very nice. It’s a lot different from where I’m from. I’m from a small town, so this is huge for me. A lot of people, a lot of opportunities. That’s really nice. I just came back from, I was home for a while, and now I’m back … I couldn’t wait to come back. I’m very happy to be here. When I’m in New York, it feels like I’m doing something with my life. [crosstalk 00:50:16].

Henry Deleon:       Oh, Otto, I don’t have to tell you about the old lady in Vegas that kept toughing his butt that day.

Otto Wallin:        Yeah, that was crazy. She was old. Yo, “Can I hold you?”

Henry Deleon:       Hold on, Otto. Let me go back to the fight a bit. You’re in the locker room. Before coming out, it’s like you’re minutes away from coming out to the main arena. What’s going through your head?

Otto Wallin:        of course, I was nervous and everything. But mostly, I was just happy. I felt like it’s finally, here, man. I worked so hard for this, and so long. It’s finally happening. My friends were there. My family was there. I couldn’t wait to go out there, and just put it on him. Of course, I was nervous, and all that. But it just felt good.

Henry Deleon:       I believe you went in there with the mindset too saying that you had everything to gain, and nothing to lose. I believe, at the fighter’s meeting, Timothy Bradley kind of got on you a bit on that type of mentality, saying that a fighter should never think like that. Can you elaborate a little bit more on what it was you meant by going in, by having everything to gain, and nothing to lose?

Otto Wallin:        I want to say that when I say that I had no pressure, and I had everything to gain and nothing to lose, that’s not an excuse to lose. But you can’t go out there and just being scared of losing. You’ve got to put it all on the line, and if you’re not scared of losing, I feel like you can give more to win.

Henry Deleon:       You definitely, I remember-

Otto Wallin:        You don’t restrict yourself to not stay away from losing. You want to go out there and not think about losing, but think about winning.

Henry Deleon:       I recall, too, that after that fighter meeting, Andre Ward became a believer. He became a believer in you in saying that okay, you must really want this. How did that make you feel, hearing that from Andre Ward, saying that? Okay, you have that it factor, like these guys would say?

Otto Wallin:        Yeah, it felt good. I’m always a big fan of Andre Ward, and I think he was a great fighter. But at the same time, I think they are just words that I was saying, and to me, words doesn’t mean so much. The action is what means something. Yeah, it felt good, because I’m a fan of Andre Ward, but at the same time, like I said, it’s just words.

Henry Deleon:       Now, moving forward, the whole heavyweight division … You’re here. Everybody knows you now. Going forward. What do you see happening for you in your career?

Otto Wallin:        We work in, we got a lot of offers, after the fight, from different networks, different promoters, but it looks like we have a really good offer from one of the broadcasters that we’re going to meet with this week, and that’s going to be for a few fights, and we’ll see what happens with that.

Larry Goldberg:     Now, Otto, a lot of people don’t know this about you. You fought Anthony Joshua twice on the amateurs. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Otto Wallin:        That was a long time ago. We fought, I think, in 2009 and 2011. We had good fights. I lost decisions, but it could have gone either way. I got tape of both fights, so I watched it not too long ago.

Jose Guzman:        Just leak it on YouTube.

Larry Goldberg:     What do you think about the rematch with him and Ruiz?

Otto Wallin:        I think it could go either way. I think that Ruiz, he already did it once, so he can do it again. I think if-

Henry Deleon:       Were you surprised at the first outcome of the Ruiz and Joshua fight?

Otto Wallin:        As a fighter, you know that everybody can get beat. I wasn’t surprised like that. But I didn’t think he was going to win. But he really showed up, and did a good job, and I’m rooting for Andy. He seems like a really nice guy. He even sent me a message after my fight with Fury, and said that I did a good job and stuff.

Curtis Jones:       That’s what’s up, champ.

Larry Goldberg:     How do you rank the top four heavyweights?

Henry Deleon:       Otto Walling, of course, number one, right?

Larry Goldberg:     Of course.

Otto Wallin:        I still, yeah … They should have stopped the fight.

Jose Guzman:        The new.

Larry Goldberg:     The new.

Otto Wallin:        Yeah, no, but before our fight, my fight with Fury, I was saying that Fury was the best, and I still think so.

Curtis Jones:       No, you can’t think that, champ.

Otto Wallin:        I think that he’s the best, and I hope he beats Wilder again.

Curtis Jones:       He beat who?

Otto Wallin:        Because that would make me look good.

Henry Deleon:       He hopes he beats him.

Curtis Jones:       No, no. He said beat again. He didn’t win?

Jose Guzman:        I think he did.

Otto Wallin:        I think he did.

Henry Deleon:       The first fight?

Curtis Jones:       Listen. Let me tell you something, champ. I’m going to tell you something, champ. Wilder took his soul, champ.

Curtis Jones:       Then, you took his eye.

Jose Guzman:        He is no longer good anymore.

Curtis Jones:       It’s over, champ.

Otto Wallin:        No, but if he wins, it make me look good, so I’m with him.

Henry Deleon:       That’s true.

Jose Guzman:        Question. Question. Wilder –  Ortiz. What do you got, and why?

Otto Wallin:        I think that it’s going to be a good fight, but at the end of the day, I think Ortiz is getting older. Who knows how old he is, and I think that Wilder’s going to win a knockout again.

Curtis Jones:       Bomb squad. That’s over.

Jose Guzman:        On your picks, do you feel like he’s going to knock him out this time?

Curtis Jones:       I think so. Yeah.

Jose Guzman:        I agree.

Otto Wallin:        Yeah. I think that Ortiz getting older, slower, and like I said, who knows how old he is.

Jose Guzman:        Listen. Ortiz used to be the boogeyman of the heavyweight division.

Curtis Jones:       Yes, he was.

Jose Guzman:        I think we’ll have a new boogeyman. His name is Otto Wallin.

Curtis Jones:       But you want to hear something, though? Deonte Wilder has the best resume of all the heavyweights out there. How could you not put him at number one, and he’ll still be undefeated? He has the best resume. Fury. Ortiz … Yo, Stevern was tough, bro. We can’t never forget that.

Otto Wallin:        Yeah, I agree. I agree.

Curtis Jones:       He fought King Kong. Listen. King Kong was the number one rated for the WBA for a long time. Joshua never wanted that fight. Hell no.

Otto Wallin:        But yeah, but that was a good fight, Ortiz and Wilder.

Curtis Jones:       Of course it was a good fight, and Mark Breland saved him.

Otto Wallin:        No, but I felt that Fury won the first one, and Wilder knocked him down good.

Curtis Jones:       Good? He killed him.

Otto Wallin:        Yeah … But he, yeah.

Curtis Jones:       He came back to life.

Otto Wallin:        For some reason, he got up. I don’t know how, but he did it.