Anthony Joshua to bounce back this weekend against Jermaine Franklin
Once the heavyweight golden boy, Anthony Joshua has had a massive fall from grace. Once a unified World Heavyweight Champion, Joshua missed out on a chance to become undisputed due to politics in boxing.
The Rise of Anthony Joshua
While the boxing world was watching Tyson Fury’s meteoric rise and fall, Joshua was coming up the ranks with great win after great win. After beating Dillian Whyte, Charles Martin and Eric Molina, Joshua finally got the chance at glory when he took on Wladimir Klitschko. While Klitschko fell to Tyson Fury, Joshua put the Ukrainian away instead of taking him to a decision.
Joshua-maina had begun. He was in shape. He boxed beautifully. He had hands to put anyone away. Eventually he’d get the chance to fight Deontay Wilder and become undisputed, right?
The fights kept rolling and Joshua never took on Wilder. Carlos Takam, Joshua Parker, and Alexander Povetkin we’re his opponents of chose. Meanwhile, Wilder took the risk and fought and lost to Tyson Fury. No sweat though, surely Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury would have the biggest fight in UK history, right?
The Fall
Joshua then took on Andy Ruiz on short notice after Jarrell Miller failed a drug test. Then disaster struck. After knocking down Ruiz, Joshua was put away by the overweight Mexican who shouldn’t have been there. The optics were terrible. The Greek god fell to the moral man despite his vices.
Joshua then got revenge by beating Ruiz in a fight that wasn’t very exciting. But something was off. Joshua was timid.
While Wilder and Fury were entangled in their trilogy, Joshua beat Kubrat Pulev and took on Oleksandr Usyk, the former undisputed Cruiserweight Champion. Joshua had officially met his match.
Usyk beat Anthony Joshua in his back yard, beating the two time champ via decision. They rematched and Joshua, like the Pulev and Usyk fights, looked timid and lacked a killer instinct. Fury settled his business and now fans have moved on from Anthony Joshua.
Now Joshua is fighting for himself. Jermaine Franklin is a good fighter but not anything scary for Anthony Joshua. But as he’s seen with Ruiz, he cannot take anyone lightly. A loss to Jermaine Franklin would be three in a row and likely a shot in the foot for a hopeful Anthony Joshua.
