By Jake Tiernan: Anthony Joshua scaled in at the heaviest weight of his ten-year professional career today, weighing in at a whopping 255.4 lbs for his bout against the 234.1 lb Jermaine Franklin on Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London, England.
It’s unclear what Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) has been doing with training in Texas with his new coach Derrick James. AJ was supposed to have been working on his boxing rather than hitting the weights as he’d done throughout his career, but it looks as if Joshua couldn’t resist driving the iron. Was Joshua trying to impress the Texans with his muscles, or what?
The 33-year-old Joshua could be making a HUGE mistake by coming in so heavy against a fast heavyweight like Franklin. You would think that Joshua would have learned his lesson from his past fights that he doesn’t perform well when he’s sporting a Mr. Universe type of bodybuilding physique.
As Franklin pointed out, Joshua has what he refers to as “habits” that are flaws that he shows.
These bad habits/routines that Joshua is plagued with in adding useless muscles to his frame are hardwired into his brain and seemingly impossible for him to break free of.
Breaking the habit of putting on bulk appears to be i-m-p-o-s-s-i-b-l-e for Joshua to do.
Joshua’s previous high weight was 254 lbs against Carlos Takam in October 2017 in Cardiff, Wales, and he was slow, lethargic, and musclebound for that fight.
On the positive side, if Joshua loses to Franklin, he at least will have a good excuse to give to his loyal boxing fans. He can blame it on his weight. That would be good news for his trainer Derrick James because he might not dump him like he did his last two coaches after losses.
For his part, Franklin (21-1, 14 KOs) came in 22.9 lbs lighter than the 257 lbs that he weighed for his previous fight against Dillian Whyte last November in London.
Interestingly, despite Franklin being much lighter than he was in November, he still looked soft and not nearly chiseled as some had hoped.
Franklin doesn’t have the body type to ever develop a defined look, but still, he looks like he stands to lose an additional 25 lbs of fat and be toned up.
If you take away the fat that Franklin is carrying on his frame, he’s essentially around 210 lbs, which would make him a bridgerweight
All weights: Anthony Joshua 255.4 vs. Jermaine Franklin 234.12
Fabio Wardley 242.6 vs. Michael Polite-Coffie 269.4
Galal Yafai 113.8 vs. Moises Calleros 114.2
Campbell Hatton 139.12 vs. Louis Fiedling 138.6
Austin Williams 162.8 vs. River Wilson-Bent 162.7
