HomeSportsAnthony Joshua beats Franklin, calls out Fury

Anthony Joshua beats Franklin, calls out Fury

Anthony Joshua beat Jermaine Franklin by unanimous points at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday night and called out Tyson Fury.

The fight was scored 117-111 by two judges and 118-111 by a third.

While the judges scored it a dominant win, Joshua was disappointed not to knock his opponent out.

“It was important to win,” began Joshua.

“Jermaine has a good duck-and-dive style, somebody else from Britain will probably knock him out.

“I respect him, he did well. I should have knocked him out but it is done. He is here to prove himself, not roll over. I wish I could have knocked him out.”

Joshua came out with a crisp jab but appeared tentative and stiff in the first few rounds, scoring sparingly with the jab behind a tight guard.

Despite his career-high weight, Joshua’s smaller American opponent kept moving confidently forward and landed a few solid shots, causing Joshua to bleed heavily from his nose.

Franklin – a fringe world level contender – gave Joshua a harder night’s work than most expected. Nevertheless, the pressure was on. A defeat for Joshua would have been difficult to come back from.

As the match progressed, both fighters landed solid shots but nothing of major consequence.

Joshua looked no more comfortable in the third round than in the previous two.

He landed a big straight right in the second round, but Franklin immediately threw back and continued to pressure Joshua.

The fourth round saw Joshua loosen up and keep Franklin at a distance, landing his powerful jab almost at will and swelling Franklin’s right eye.

The round ended with an explosive exchange along the ropes, but Joshua emerged unscathed.

And while he hurt his opponent in those closing rounds, he was unable to get the knockout he craved and was thus left with a win but not the statement one he wanted after successive losses to Oleksandr Usyk.

Joshua calls out Fury

Despite an underwhelming performance, Joshua is keen on a match-up with Fury.

“I would be honoured to fight for the WBC heavyweight championship of the world,” Joshua said.

“If he’s listening, he knows my promoter, we’ve had dialogue before, so let’s continue this. We ain’t getting any younger.”

Promoter Hearn added: “There may be an opportunity to do the Tyson Fury fight next.

“If it is there, it’ll be difficult for AJ not to take it. He may think he will never get it.

“The sensible thing is to have another fight with Derrick James to improve; Dillian Whyte is a great option. The first fight was epic. It is all about timing. Money? Not so much, but he is looking at big fights.

“That was his career on the line and he was apprehensive for that reason.”

Unbeaten Fury’s last outing was a trilogy bout win over Derek Chisora in December. The Morecambe fighter will be looking for a high-profile opponent for his next fight.

Joshua-Fury is arguably the most lucrative bout for both men. In terms of appeasing boxing fans, it would go a little way in clawing back some credibility for the sport after an undisputed fight between Fury and Usyk fell through.

Alfred Saiki
Alfred Saiki
A passionate sports journalist and administrator. I want to see the world.