Anthony Joshua vs. Jermaine Franklin undercard – Nothing to see here

By Boxing News - 03/20/2023 - Comments

By Charles Brun: The Anthony Joshua vs. Jermaine Franklin undercard was revealed yesterday, and it’s shockingly poor for their April 1st card on DAZN at the O2 Arena in London, England.

If boxing fans were hoping that a good undercard would be packaged with this fight, they got to be disappointed because there’s absolutely NOTHING to see with the ‘New Dawn’ event next month.

It’s not just the fights that are lackluster. The fighters themselves on the undercard are a simple rag-tag group of average domestic-level fighters that are going nowhere.

Charles Brun can’t spot even one who will rise to the world level and win a title in their career. The Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) fans won’t have any positive memories from this card if he’s destroyed by Franklin (21-1, 14 KOs), and the undercard doesn’t make up for it.

Joshua-Franklin undercard:

  • Matteo Signani-Felix Cash
  • Ammo Williams-River Wilson-Bent
  • Fabio Wardley-Michael Coffie
  • Campbell Hatton-Louis Fielding
  • John Hedges-Daniel Bocianski
  • Ziyad Almaayouf vs. TBA
  • Juergen Uldedaj vs. TBA
  • Peter Kadiru vs. TBA

“This is a must-win for Anthony Joshua. Not only is it a must-win, but he must do it in style,” said Spencer Oliver to talkSPORT Boxing on Joshua’s confidence-builder level bout against Jermaine Franklin on April 1st in London.

“The argument is at the moment until he puts a couple of performances together is he’s actually fallen behind Deontay Wilder and Joe Joyce,” said Gareth A. Davies. “A lot of people rank Anthony Joshua right now as maybe #4 in the world or even #5 if you place someone else above him.

“There are others that can beat him in the division with the fragility that he’s shown. When Franklin came to London last November, there were people who thought he beat Dillian Whyte. I hate Whyte winning by a round. It was a very, very close fight. It was a pick ’em in terms of the judging.

“He still believes he won that fight. He was 21-0 with 14 KOs, and he believes he won that fight. So in his mind, he’s 22-0. He didn’t take that as a loss. He took that as a learning experience. He was very competent with Dillian Whyte, and he was also very good in the exchanges.

“That performance that night with Whyte, there’s a lot to be concerned about [if you’re Joshua and his trainer Derrick James]. Also, he’s studying Andy Ruiz’s performance against AJ,” said Davies.

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