By Jim Calfa: Jermain Franklin feels that he’s got to really make a statement against Anthony Joshua to come away with a victory on April 1st at the O2 Arena in London, England.
Franklin (21-1, 14 KOs) believes he was the victim of boxing politics in his last fight, losing to British fighter Dillian Whyte last November in London.
To avoid that happening to him again, Franklin plans on making a statement by dominating Joshua (24-3,22 KOs) to the point where the judges can’t take the win away from him.
The best way to take the judge out of play is for Franklin, 29, to knockout Joshua, as Andy Ruiz Jr did in 2019.
Joshua might not hold up if Franklin starts hammering him the way he did Dillian. Franklin connected with a lot of shots to the head of Whyte in that fight, but somehow, he was able to take it.
Franklin wants to make a statement
“The way they’re pushing it in the media is they’re trying to use me as a tune-up fight. That’s the whole narrative in the media right now,” said Jermaine Franklin to the DAZN Boxing Show about Anthony Joshua and his team.
“That’s the whole narrative that they tried to push with Dillian Whyte, and I proved them wrong on that. I feel I got an unfair decision. We know how boxing is. We know the politics of the game. So we know how it works.
“I’m not going to hold my head down, but I’ve got to come in there and make a real statement and make a real impact. This is a warrior’s sport, so I feel all the warrior’s should be competing against each other.
“There’s a lot of ducking going on nowadays. Hopefully, we can get boxing back exciting like it was. Everybody running from each other. We just need to give the fans what they want and get the kids back in the sport,” Jermain said.
Jermaine wants to prove Team Joshua wrong
“I’m not into the fame and all the glam. I’m just a regular guy,” said Franklin when asked if he likes all the attention on him. “It’s a little overwhelming at times.
“I think they’re studying the fight from Dillian Whyte, and what they’re thinking in their head is trying to sell the fight, they’re going by Anthony being better than Dillian, and Anthony can put on a better performance.
“So they’re thinking Anthony can do what Dillian can’t, but I’m going to prove them wrong. They’re both good fighters. I think AJ is probably better skill-wise. Not to take anything from Dillian Whyte, but Dillian has got his own boxing style. It’s a little awkward.
“It’s not a conventional style. So when you compare them, AJ has got a little more skill, skill-wise,” said Franklin.
“Derrick James is a hell of a trainer. He trains Errol Spence. His guys are kind of bully-ish the way they fight. I can’t give away by insights. We’re putting a whole plan together,” said Franklin when asked about what he expects Joshua to do.
“I’m looking at old footage, new footage. Me, I study my old stuff, so I want to see how you move and react to certain thing and how you act under pressure, and how you react when you got somebody hurt.
“I want to know how you react. I want to see all your flaws, and how you move. If you get too excited. I want to know all the small details. That’s how I base my plans of attack,” Franklin said.
Franklin rates Joshua 6 or 7 on a 10 scale
“I expect everybody to bounce back. It’s just that I don’t want to ever go in the ring thinking,” said Franklin, ‘”This guy is done. He’s wounded. He’s not this; he’s not that. I’m still thinking about AJ like he’s a unified champion.
“Right now? Probably a six or seven,” said Franklin when asked to rate Joshua on a ten scale. “Yeah, he was #1 for a while, but the couple of losses. He lost to Ruiz, which he came back and won, but Andy was kind of out of shape.
“He wasn’t the same Andy as the first fight, and then you turn around and take the two losses to Usyk. I think that really hurt. I’m not thinking highly about guys, but probably around the same. Six or seven,” said Franklin when asked to rate Joshua skill-wise.
“I watch a lot of Tyson. Tyson has his own small things he does that people won’t notice, but it’s smart, and it works, and it gives him an advantage. You think this guy just beat you up, but it’s really tactics behind it. He’s really intelligent in there.
“I’m going to go in there and fight my fight. I know the politics. In this game, you don’t want to put too much pressure on yourself because you can’t live up to the person that is going to destroy your mind in the ring.
“Now you become weak-minded in the ring, and somebody gets to beat on you. It’s not that you’re a weak person, but once you see you can’t get the knockout, it starts messing with your mental if that’s your whole game plan like you got to go in and knock him out,” said Franklin about pressure.
Franklin hungrier after loss
“It’s made me hungrier. I feel like I won the fight 7-5,” said Franklin about his fight with Dillian Whyte. “We’re not going to cry about it. We’re just going to go back to the gym and work harder. We try not to let them do the same thing to us twice.
“Skill-wise it was,” said Franklin when asked if Whyte was his toughest fight. “He has more experience than most of the guys I fought besides Rydell Booker. Experience-wise, he probably had the most experience than anyone I’ve fought.
“He knows a lot of the ins and outs of being in the ring and ring generalship. He knows how to do certain things. I think that was my toughest fight skill-wise.
“It could be two things. Either your straight ducking him, or your team advised you not to take the fight because you got other stuff in motion, better fights,” said Franklin when asked why Anthony Joshua didn’t fight Deontay Wilder.
“I think AJ has more skills, but Wilder has the type of heart where you can’t destroy this guy physically; he might knock you out. If you can’t destroy him physically and take his will away from him, then you have a high probability of being knocked out,” Franklin said.
Jermain picks his three opponents
“When I get past AJ, I think Daniel Dubois was talking s**t,” sid Franklin. “I’d like to see. I’m trying to think about some people that would put me in position. I’m going by the rankings and belts and stuff, but that’s kind of going backwards.
“I’d be wanting to fight all the world champions. Whoever has got a belt, I want to fight them. I’d like to fight Daniel, I’d like to fight Usyk, and I’d like to fight Tyson. I feel like that’s going to come in the future. I feel like the bigger fights are going to come,” said Franklin when asked if he’d like to fight Deontay Wilder.
“I feel like Andy or Deontay. When we make this happen [beating Joshua], those fights are going to come for us,” said Franklin.