I’ve seen a lot of criticism aimed at Anthony Joshua’s next fight with Jermaine Franklin. But for me, it’s the perfect comeback fight.
Joshua has had 12 world title bouts on the spin and that’s a rare feat for any fighter. He’s had a tough run losing three of his last four and after getting beaten by Oleksandr Usyk again, he needed to take a step down in competition.
Franklin fits that bill perfectly and is coming off a tremendous performance against Dillian Whyte. Many people thought he won that fight and it certainly divided opinions. Personally, I thought the judges picked the right man, but there’s a solid argument for either way.
Franklin proved that he is a decent contender, and can cause problems for Joshua if he’s not at the races. He’s a fighter who fires off your work so there’s a danger there for Joshua – he’s also a smaller target and has deceptively quick hands.
I think we’ll see a return of that against Franklin and a good win should get him the love of the fans back. He always had that admiration from the British public for the majority of his career but over the last few years, Tyson Fury has taken that mantle. Meanwhile, AJ is somehow now the villain.
I can see why people love Fury, he has such an inspirational story, coming back from the brink of suicide to regain the world heavyweight crown. But Joshua didn’t need to become the villain for that to work.
It was Fury who was always the bad guy and he played up to that role. Joshua hasn’t; he’s been given it and I don’t understand why. So, this fight will do a lot for him in getting the public back on side. And show everyone that when he does get it right that he’s a dangerous fighter who can still be a player at the highest level.
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