LONDON — Anthony Joshua returned to winning ways but only after a laboured display in a unanimous points victory over Jermaine Franklin.
The British fighter had lost three of his last five contests, which included consecutive losses to Oleksandr Usyk, but he tasted success again for the first time since 2020 after the judges scored the London bout 118-111, 117-111 and 117-111 in favor of Joshua.
Joshua regularly landed with his left jab and caught Franklin on a number of occasions with his powerful right but the American heavyweight stood firm at the 02 Arena.
A bizarre finish saw the 12th round appearing to end eight seconds early before Joshua pushed his head into Franklin and it sparked an angry reaction from Lorenzo Adams, the strength and conditioning coach of Franklin, who pushed Joshua.
It was quickly settled and Joshua´s hand was lifted again to earn him a 25th professional win and keep alive hopes of a “Battle of Britain” with WBC champion Tyson Fury.
“I try and provide for the fans, I know who the fans want – who do the fans want? They said Fury, yeah? The ball is in his court,” Joshua said on the DAZN broadcast.
“I would be 100 per cent honoured to compete for the WBC Championship of the world.
“I stand here and say that proudly, that would be an honour.
“Wherever you are, if you are listening, you know my management, you know my promoter, we’ve had dialogue before, so let’s continue this and hopefully we can get this done sooner rather than later. We aren’t getting any younger.
“I can’t wait to get back to Texas, develop and push on because there’s a bigger fight, you know how one fight leads onto another, I can’t wait to get the next big fight.”
Questions continue to loom over the heavyweight division as a whole in light of talks over a prospective undisputed clash between Fury and Usyk breaking down.
While Joe Joyce has emerged as a potential opponent for Fury, Usyk is seemingly heading towards a meeting with mandatory WBA challenger Daniel Dubois.
Aside from Fury, Joshua has also been linked to another fight against old rival Dillian Whyte, who was in attendance to watch the Olympic champion in London night, as well as Deontay Wilder, who was notably bumped up to No 1 in the WBA rankings over the weekend.
Joshua said fans will see him in the ring again before the end of the summer.
“I know who the fans want,” Joshua said during the post-fight interview. The fans in attendance shouted “Fury.”
“The ball’s in his court,” Joshua said of Tyson Fury, the undefeated WBC titleholder and fellow UK star. “Wherever you are, I hope you’re listening. We’re not getting any younger.”
