Anthony Joshua’s comeback fight against Jermaine Franklin almost fell apart a day before it was officially announced. An unspecified issue meant both parties had to work through the night to get the deal done.
Joshua squares off against Franklin on April 1 at the O2 Arena, London. The Brit is looking to rebuild his career following consecutive defeats to Oleksandr Usyk and has a three-fight plan in place for 2023 in an attempt to claw his way back to the top.
Following his spring showdown with Franklin, AJ is expected to box Dillian Whyte in June before a blockbuster clash with either Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury to see out the year in December. But those plans nearly fell at the first hurdle.
No Smoke Boxing reported on Sunday that a contractual issue had threatened to derail Joshua’s next fight which has since been confirmed by Franklin’s promoter, Dmitry Salita. Speaking to Boxing King Media, he said: “Like I said at the beginning of this interview it’s not easy to make these big fights and it did get done at the eleventh hour that’s true and I’m happy that we got it over the line and the fight got done.”
“Really it came down to the style,” Hearn told the Matchroom Boxing YouTube channel when asked why Franklin had been chosen over Wallin and McKean.
“You know, I think AJ’s coming off the back of two fights against a southpaw – the best southpaw in boxing, in Oleksandr Usyk – and wanted an orthodox fighter.”
“The training team really sort of looked at it and said: ‘Look, if we’re gonna go and fight [Deontay] Wilder, Dillian Whyte, Tyson Fury, there’s no point in us going back and fighting a southpaw,” Hearn added.
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