Former unified heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua, has shared his thoughts following Dillian Whyte’s decision victory over previously unbeaten American, Jermaine Franklin.
Joshua was ringside for the fight, where Whyte won a close majority decision (115-115, 116-112 x2), in a fight which most believe could have gone either way.
CompuBox statistics show that Franklin outlanded Whyte, who has since ruled out a rematch. The flat performance from Whyte could dampen some of the hype surrounding the likely rematch with old rival ‘AJ’.
Joshua told iFL TV that he too was disappointed with the performance of ‘The Body Snatcher’ and was expecting a knockout.
“Let me take myself out of the fighting capacity and say that, if I was a trainer, I would expect my fighter to knock someone like Jermaine Franklin out, with all due respect. With the experience that Dillian has got, the power that he has got, all the other stuff, I ain’t in there to play games, I’m going in there to try and knock someone of that calibre out.”
“Up and coming fighters, you need to be knocking out everyone on the way up, because by the time you get to the top it’s only going to get tougher. So, if you struggle with fighters on the way up, you are going to get smashed when you get to the top.”
Joshua went on to suggest Franklin was chosen to make Whyte look good.
“Let’s be honest, Jermaine Franklin wasn’t there to give Dillian any problems.”
“So that’s the time to go and put on a spectacular performance. ‘Bang, bang, bang, I’m back on the scene, I ain’t messing about, my passion is still there, my power is still there, my skills are still there.’ That is the type of fight that Dillian wanted that night, but it was difficult, Jermaine Franklin made it tougher than what it is and credit to him. He’s a tough guy, I’ve heard about his sparring sessions, he can take a beating.”
Despite expectations of Joshua-Whyte II, Whyte has since denied the speculation and claimed there has been no talks, except in the media.