It was billed as a new dawn at the O2 Arena in London for Anthony Joshua, and he was forced to turn in a patient display in securing a twelve round points win against Jermaine Franklin in their heavyweight meeting on Saturday.
Joshua (25-3, 22 KOs) was returning after back-to-back defeats to Oleksandr Usyk that saw him lose his heavyweight world titles, and he was coming back under the tutelage of Derrick James. Franklin (21-2, 14 KOs) was spirited in a majority verdict loss to Dillian Whyte in his last outing last November, and was selected to be the opponent for a desired re-launch of the career of ‘AJ’.
Joshua began in studious fashion, working his opponent out, and he utilised a solid jab in a largely dominant opening round. After a quiet second frame, the 33-year-old continuously came forward, and landed with some stiff right hands in round three, but his American rival was growing in confidence after having little pockets of success of his own.
After another couple of rounds where the ‘989 Assassin’ was tough to land cleanly against, Joshua had a big sixth round finding accurate and big shots, but Franklin was remaining competitive if not outgunned.
Joshua finally opened up in the eighth, with the uppercut giving the Watford man the most success, but it was stop-start stuff, and there were plenty of clinches as a result.
The home favourite was determined to try and close the show, and the pair exchanged in round ten to bring the crowd to life, but try as he might, the visitor proved an immovable object, and made it to the final bell where the result was academic.
There was a brief clash between Joshua and one of Franklin’s training team as tensions threatened to boil over at the final bell.
Two scores of 117-111 and a third at 118-111 returned Joshua to winning ways.
Joshua called for a long-awaited clash with WBC champion, Tyson Fury post-fight, while a rematch with Dillian Whyte, who was watching on at ringside, could be another option.
🇬🇧 Dillian Whyte❓
🇺🇸 Deontay Wilder❓
🇬🇧 Tyson Fury❓🤔 Who should Anthony Joshua fight next?#Boxing #JoshuaFranklin pic.twitter.com/9CXqaoIR7w
— Pro Boxing Fans (@ProBoxingFans) April 1, 2023
“The ball is in his court,” Joshua told DAZN.
“I would 100% be honoured to compete for the WBC heavyweight championship of the world.
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“We’ve had dialect before, so let’s continue this and hopefully we can get this on sooner than later.
“We ain’t getting any younger.”
Wardley halts Coffie
The undercard was headed by another heavyweight contest, and Fabio Wardley took the vacant WBA Continental title with a fourth round stoppage of Michael Coffie.
Coffie (13-4, 10 KOs) did give Wardley (16-0, 15 KOs) plenty to think about in the first three rounds, but the British heavyweight champion decided to open up at the start of the fourth, landing with a right hand, and after unloading, the referee waved the fight off, although it did look slightly premature.
Yafai sees off Calleros
Galal Yafai (4-0, 3 KOs) stepped in to fill the gap left by Felix Cash, who withdrew on fight week and the Birmingham native was supposed to fight Moises Calleros on a bill in the USA next week, but the two got it on with the 2020 Olympic Gold medalist scoring a fourth round stoppage.
Calleros (36-11-1, 19 KOs) was down a round earlier.
Hatton blasts out Fielding
Campbell Hatton (11-0, 4 KOs) impressed, using a signature body shot right out of his dad Ricky’s playbook to knockout Louis Fielding (10-8, 1 KO) inside a round at lightweight.
First round stoppage for @CampbellHatton! 💥
Another trademark body shot ™️#HattonFielding #JoshuaFranklin pic.twitter.com/qbtYIg0FiJ
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) April 1, 2023
Williams wipes out Wilson-Bent
Austin ‘Ammo’ Williams (14-0, 10 KOs) was due to stay busy ahead of a possible clash with Cash and halted River Wilson-Bent (14-3-1, 6 KOs) in eight rounds.
Wilson-Bent was down in round seven, and his corner threw in the towel a round later.
The towel comes in! Ammo Williams gets River Wilson-Bent out in the eighth round 🪓 #WilliamsWilsonBent #JoshuaFranklin pic.twitter.com/qutB91lVB9
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) April 1, 2023
Remaining Undercard
At cruiserweight, Juergen Uldedaj (15-1, 6 KOs) was defeated for the first time, as Benoit Huber (9-3, 6 KOs) took a deserved eight round points win by a 77-75 score.
Jordan Flynn (9-0, 1 KO) took a 77-75 eight round points win against Kane Baker (18-10-1, 1 KO) at super featherweight, and John Hedges (8-0, 2 KOs) won every round of eight at light heavyweight against Daniel Bocianski (11-3, 2 KOs).
In the sole six rounder at heavyweight, Peter Kadiru (15-1, 8 KOs) returned to winning ways, forcing Alen Lauriolle (6-2, 3 KOs) at the end of the opening round, and in the four rounder on the bill, Ziyad Almaayouf (3-0, 1 KO) came through 39-37 against Georgi Velichkov (3-12, 3 KOs) at super lightweight.
