Anthony Joshua vs. Jermaine Franklin Fight Results: AJ Earns Easy UD
Anthony Joshua earned a relatively easy unanimous decision victory over Jermaine Franklin at the O2 Arena in London.
It wasn’t the most exciting heavyweight fight that we have seen, but Anthony Joshua (25-3) did what he needed to do to earn a unanimous decision victory over Jermaine Franklin (21-2) at the O2 Arena in London, UK. The judges saw this fight 118-111, 117-111 & 117-111, all for Joshua as he seemed more concerned about the post-fight scuffle than winning the decision.
Picture By Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing
In the first round, both fighters exchanged plenty of left jabs in the first round. You can see Franklin was jabbing to get inside while Joshua was jabbing to set up the check left hook and keep his distance. Franklin used a lot of head movement in the second round, which made Joshua miss and land some big counter right hands as blood came down from the nose of Joshua. On the other hand, Joshua was landing a nice check left hook that he had established since the first round and a hard counter left hook to the body of Franklin.
As the fight went into the third round, Joshua started to follow up his left jab with a straight right hand down the middle, which landed hard. Franklin was coming inside, holding and landing some left hooks on the body of Joshua to wear him down a bit. In the fourth round, Franklin started to jab his way inside, making things uncomfortable for Joshua. Although Joshua looked as though he had won the round, Franklin was establishing his rhythm.
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Although it was the same 1-2 combination from Joshua in the fifth, when that straight right hand landed down the middle, the impact on Franklin was more noticeable. Franklin looked a little tired in this round. The sixth round was more of the same, but in the seventh, Joshua started to do an up-and-under move that would finish with a left hook to the body and the head. Franklin stayed on the outside, making it easy for Joshua to land his jab and straight right hand.
In the eighth round, Both men took this round off as there was more holding than punches thrown, while in the ninth, it was a slow round outside of a big right hand that Franklin landed as Joshua got lazy with his defense.
Picture By Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing
During the championship rounds, the tenth was the best round of the fight as Joshua started to land bigger straight rights and right uppercuts. Franklin came back and landed some punches of his own, but for a split second, we saw what Joshua used to look like. During the eleventh round, Joshua’s left hook to the body nearly split Franklin in half. Franklin then returned with a counter right hand which forced Joshua to hold. While the last round wasn’t anything memorable, there was a small scuffle after the final bell between both men. In the end, Joshua returns to the win column with his new trainer Derrick James and promises to return in the summer.
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