If we are being honest, Anthony Joshua didn’t look great against Jermaine Franklin. Albeit his detractors will be a bit harsh given that Joshua has been headlining The O2 Arena since he turned pro, but given his stature in the sport of boxing, the performance didn’t match.
The man who followed in his Olympic footsteps, Joe Joyce, who instead of getting a gold like Joshua got a silver medal in the 2016 Olympic Games, is now one of the three names being brought up as Joshua’s next opponent. Joyce’s promoter, Frank Warren welcomes that bout.
The confident veteran promoter, Warren stated simply that, Joshua is simply not the same guy, and it is mostly from the fact people now know that he can lose.
“He isn’t the old Anthony Joshua, he has been beaten three times,” said Frank Warren in an exclusive interview on Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions YouTube channel. “He is an Anthony Joshua who has experience, he has fought at that level, and he is an Anthony Joshua, who if he has an ambition for fighting for a world title will have to get in there and [give it his all].”
That being said, Warren is not discounting Joe Joyce’s opponent, Zhilei Zhang, who fights Joyce on April 15th. Warren views this as an extremely tough opponent and a harder fight than what Anthony Joshua just had last weekend.
“I think Zhang is a better opponent than Franklin, in my opinion,” said Warren. “I expect Joe to come through, [in a] tough fight, and Joe will fight anybody…remember Joe is the interim champion so he is the gatekeeper to the WBO [heavyweight] mandatory."
