By Charles Brun: The ‘989 Assassin’ Jermaine Franklin says he’s going to make Anthony Joshua’s team regret that they chose him as AJ’s opponent for his comeback fight this Saturday night because he intends on knocking him out in their main event fight on April 1st at the O2 Arena in London, England.
(Photo credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)
If Joshua can’t knockout Franklin, he will be in for a long night because this guy is an excellent combination puncher, and he’ll get the better of him in their exchanges in the same way he did in his fight against Dillian Whyte last November.
Joshua’s career is hanging by a thread after losing his last two bouts against Oleksandr Usyk, and he’s at the point where he cannot afford a loss to the younger, faster, and tougher Franklin on Saturday night. Franklin can wreck things for Joshua by handing him his third straight loss and making him question whether it’s worth it to carry on.
“They say his career is on the line,” said Jermaine Franklin. “They’re going to be in for a rude awakening. He could have picked anybody that he wanted to, but he chose me. Maybe he’s trying to prove to himself that he can do something to me that Dillian couldn’t.
“I want to knock his a** out; that’s the goal. I’ve come here to wake him and the rest of the world up,” Franklin said.
Franklin (21-1, 14 KOs) believes that he was picked because Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) wants to prove that he can do something that Dillian Whyte couldn’t when he was clearly beaten by the Saginaw, Michigan native last November in London, but given what many people saw a hometown decision.
AJ jokingly dismisses the idea that his career will end if he loses to Franklin. Joshua says that a loss to Franklin won’t prevent him from continuing to fight, and he’s right about that.
With that said, at some point, Joshua will be forced to retire if he keeps getting beaten, and it might be this Saturday if Franklin knocks the living daylights out of him. Joshua will likely hang up his gloves for good if he loses to Franklin in consecutive fights because that would be four straight losses for AJ, and he possesses too much pride to let his career sink to that level.
Joshua’s net worth is $80 million, which will likely be well over $100 million soon. With that kind of fortune, it makes it more likely than not that Joshua will hang up his gloves if Franklin spanks him once or twice.
“I feel like I’m winning hands down at the end of the fight,” said Franklin. “As far as him with the trainers and stuff, I can’t pinpoint what style he’s going to try to use,” said Franklin.
It’ll be massive for Franklin if he wins this fight on Saturday because he can transmute a victory over Joshua into a world title shot against IBF/WBA/WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk and potentially become a unified champion.