Via Sam Volz: Jermaine Franklin insists that Anthony Joshua’s career won’t be over if he beats him on April 1 in their upcoming bout at London’s O2 Arena.
Franklin (21-1, 14 KOs) says Joshua’s two recent losses to Oleksandr Usyk are difficult to gauge right now as the three-belt heavyweight champion can go on to beat some of the big names, which this will reduce the impact of AJ’s losses against him.
For now, it looks bad that Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) has been beaten twice by 35-year-old Usyk as those are Oleksandr’s only two major wins since he moved to heavyweight in 2019. However, if Usyk defeats Tyson Fury in April, Joshua’s two losses to him won’t be as bad.
However, if Joshua were to be beaten by Franklin, it would be a crushing defeat anyway, as it would be the 33-year-old former two-time heavyweight champion’s fourth loss in his last six fights. , and will make it clear that he will not participate. to get out of your slump.
Joshua recently hired American coach Derrick James in the hopes he could change his career. Unfortunately, however, the problems that have surfaced in AJ’s recent losses to Usyk and Andy Ruiz Jr are something any coach can fix.
Chances are if Joshua loses to Franklin, Derrick will soon be replaced, and the quest to find another coach will continue to fix what can’t be fixed.
“He lost to Usyk, who is now almost a unified champion. Usyk hasn’t lost to anyone yet, so how can we say AJ’s career is over when we don’t know what Usyk can do,” Jermaine Franklin told talkSPORT Boxing when asked if Anthony Joshua’s career would be over if he lost to him on April 1.
“We opened fire to take him down, but if this guy [Usyk] keep beating other great people [e.g., Tyson Fury & Joe Joyce]? It’s not the same conversation anymore.
“Boxing does the same with us. Organizations do the same. Name him [Joshua] if they lose to me, they’ll probably push him down a bit when I think he doesn’t deserve to be pushed down the list unless Usyk loses a couple of games.
“It reflects on AJ now, but if Usyk continues to beat some of the top guys, how can we say AJ is done because he just lost to a great guy?” Franklin continued.
“It’s money. A lot of us come from bad backgrounds, so a lot of us have risen from nothing on our own, but at the same time, I have a strong passion for the sport. this sport,” Franklin said, responding to Joshua saying that his fighting drive is to make money.
“I watched Usyk [vs. Joshua] battle. Usyk did some things that caught my attention in it. I watched Usyk’s match to paint a picture between some old matches to see if Usyk did something new that he couldn’t adjust or was this always an issue? He worked with Lomachenko, and they did the same,” Franklin said.
