Jermaine Franklin’s rapid ascent towards the top of heavyweight boxing has not gone unnoticed.
The American, who has a record of 21-1, faces his biggest test when he takes on Anthony Joshua at the O2 on April 1st, 2023.
He arrives into the bout on good form, despite having lost his last fight against Dillian Whyte in a majority decision.
In a gallant performance, many believed that he had done enough to get a points-win decision. But in Joshua, he is facing a wounded animal.
The Brit’s back-to-back losses against Oleksandr Usyk leave him with a point to prove. And under the tutelage of Derrick James, Joshua has an opportunity to quiet the naysayers.
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Franklin acknowledges that his upcoming opponent, a former two-time unified world champion, presents a more challenging task for him than Whyte.
But given his meteoric rise in the sport, he is hungrier than ever given where he has come from. And this has been shown through his impressive slimmed-down physique during the weigh-in.
Joshua weighed in at 255.4 lbs, compared to Franklin at 234.1 lbs. This weight was 11 lbs more than his previous fight against Usyk, while Franklin weighed 23 lbs less than his previous fight.
With that being said, this is what Franklin had to say to talkSport: “We’re in the gym working out full-time. I worked at this factory job. They made company roofing for big companies like Walmart
“I was working 12-hour shifts, barely had time to go to the gym. It was just work, kids and sleep. So I went from doing that, I got the phone call like six weeks out, I told my job about it and we just got in the gym and started training like crazy.”