Heavyweight contender Otto Wallin defeated Helaman Olguin by eight-round unanimous decision Friday night at the Castleton Banquet & Conference Center in Windham, New Hampshire.

Scores were 80-72, 80-72, and 79-73 for Wallin, who improves to 25-1 (14 knockouts).

Wallin, who is originally from Sundsvall, Sweden, and currently lives and trains in New York City, utilized his height and reach to rain punches down on the shorter Olguin. Wallin was content to work behind a stiff jab, followed by a right hand or two-three punch combinations. 

Olguin took the punches well and fought in spurts but never really mounted a significant amount of offense to keep Wallin off of him.

During the sixth round, Wallin was cut along his left eyelid from a punch. The cut did not seem to bother Wallin as he continued to outbox Olguin.

The 32-year-old Wallin had not fought since May 26, defeating gatekeeper Rydell Booker by decision over 10 one-sided rounds. He has won his last five bouts since losing a close unanimous decision to Tyson Fury in September 2019. 

Promoter Dmitriy Salita has offered Wallin as an opponent to the upper echelon of the division, including a rematch against Fury or a possible fight against contender Dillian Whyte later this year. In the meantime, Salita is glad Wallin is remaining active and awaits a call when opportunity knocks.

“Otto Wallin is the most avoided fighter in the heavyweight division,” Salita told The Ring earlier this week. “He was looking forward to the (Anthony) Joshua fight, as there were discussions, but looks like, with a new trainer, (Joshua) is moving in a different direction. Otto’s goal with the Joshua fight was to warrant the Fury rematch.

“Otto is staying busy, climbing the ranks while we explore significant fights.”

Olguin, who is originally from Mexico and now resides in West Jordan, Utah, drops to 9-5-1 (5 KOs). The 39-year-old is now winless in his last three fights.

Super middleweight prospect James Perkins of nearby Lynn, Massachusetts, improved to 10-0-1 (7 KOs) by stopping Argentina’s Pablo Oliveto (13-12-1, 4 KOs) at 1:51 of the opening round. Friday marked Oliveto’s first fight in over 10 years. 

In junior welterweight action, Shayna Foppiano (6-0-1, 3 KOs) of Everett, Massachusetts, stopped Sarah Glick at 1:59 of the third round. The win over Glick (0-2-1) was a rematch from their September 2018 fight, which was fought to a split-decision draw.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at [email protected]

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