Anthony Joshua (25-3, 22 KOs) finally boxed against Oleksandr Usyk. For the first time in years and in the last two fights, the Briton has boxed against a new opponent. American Jermain Franklin (21-2, 14 KOs) turned out to be an unusual opponent for the former world champion, as was thought before the match.

Joshua was not part of the war himself. It seems that all factors come into play here.

The losses to Oleksandr Usyk have hit Anthony Joshua hard. If earlier he was a sharp and active man who went forward fearlessly and dealt so many blows that his opponents were knocked down, it’s a different story now.

Andy Ruiz, not even Usyk, dealt the first blow. A fat man who needed an easy exit in America got in trouble. Joshua took blows, losing for the first time in his career and even ahead of schedule. But it was the Ukrainian who hammered all the nails.

Usyk outperformed Joshua first. He accepted this as normal. The smaller but more technical won, but it was clear that it needed to be replaced. And Anthony has changed. Team, camp, sparring partners, coach. It came out in better condition. Probably the best of my career. And I lost again. It’s not so obvious, he boxed better, he hit more, he was even close to serious problems for the opponent, but he still lost.

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And hit hard. Joshua was nervous after the fight, cried at the press conference and then only talked about money. In general, conversations before the fight against Franklin were based only on money. Anthony was honest – he wants to earn as much as possible and then whatever.

At the same time, the British continued to change everything around. He changed coaches again – Errol Spence and hired American specialist Derrick James, who was coaching one of the Charlo brothers. Trained with Errol. And she also gained weight. On the scale, the Briton showed 115.85 kg. Before that, his greatest weight was 115.2 kg before the fight against Carlos Takama. Before Usyk, the British, if any, weighed five kilograms less.

It made sense to think that Anthony would go up against Franklin for power. And Jermain – for speed. After all, his weight decreased by ten kilograms compared to the confrontation with Dillian Whyte. And so it happened.

From the very first seconds, Anthony Joshua crushed his opponent. Heavy punch, heavy right straight, heavy side. The British seemed to want to destroy his opponent with every blow. Hit it to make it fall and it’s all over.

Two moments were shocking: Franklin endured and Franklin missed those heavy blows. Joshua did not seem like a domineering or confident man. He looked like a boxer returning after a difficult period of his life. He is very careful in one place, but in another he does not finish where he should.

Anthony won. Generally. But in response, the opponent punched a lot and at the same time hit enough. Jermain Franklin’s signature combination study proved to be a problem. Small but enough to see results regularly. Just one fact – the American broke his opponent’s nose in the first round.

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Nothing changes in the second and third. Joshua still slowly walked forward, throwing a punch, hitting him in the face, and then a counterattack. The counterattack came from all sides. Somewhere Anthony blocked the blows, somewhere he left thanks to the body protection, somewhere he blocked the riveting, but at the same time he flew enough.

Surprisingly, the short-sleeved Jermain Franklin even caught his opponent with a punch. And it’s not just once or twice, actually every round. It cannot be said that the first rounds seemed clear for the Briton, as the judges and Tony Bellew in the ring gave it.

But as the struggle dragged on, it got harder for Franklin. Jermain spent too much energy on his own. In addition, Joshua aimed and shot more and more often. The Englishman hung on the opponent so much and for so long that he was tired of carrying more than one hundred and fifteen kilograms.

Joshua took the fight more and more, from round to round, until he won by decision of the judges. Anthony wasn’t close to an early victory, despite hitting hard and sometimes appearing to be close. No, Franklin was doing great. The referees awarded it as follows: 117-112 and 118-111 twice. The final bill is too much for the Brits but in general everything is fine.

What’s next?

Nothing has changed for Franklin. Losing the favourite, it happens. He looked worse than against White – quite expected. You can continue to win by registering such people and engaging with Joshua’s team after the fight.

Getty Images/Global Images Ukraine. Anthony Joshua

But Anthony Joshua wants high-profile fights. More precisely, money. As the former champion himself and his promoter Eddie Hearn said, the main target is summer Tyson Fury. They are confident that this duel can be accomplished. Previously, they even demanded a 60-40 wage split in favor of Fury, and now they are confident they can fight.

Will Tyson accept such a distribution now, given that he has a title and Joshua no longer exists? Very, very unlikely. However, Hearn objects to Anthony selling more tickets than Usyk. The organizer forgets that Tyson Fury has his own logic.

At the same time, Tyson is not the only coin option. It’s not a fact that he’s the biggest moneymaker because Deontay Wilder is also on the list. An American will certainly let you earn huge bucks even in the USA. The heavy knockout fight that has been dreamed of for seven years to be exact. From where?

And then there’s Dillian Whyte. A longstanding feud with him was a Dillian knockout with him. History with it and a complete arena exactly in the UK. They will come to Joshua and even his mega fight. With such hands you can dictate certain terms to Tyson Fury.

On the night of April 1-2, Tulsa (Oklahoma, USA) hosted a boxing show from promotion company Top Rank.

The main event was a fight between Cubans for the vacant WBO featherweight title (up to 57.2 kg). Robeicy Ramirez (11–1.7 knockouts) and Isaac Dogbo (24–2, 15 KOs) from Ghana.

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Ramirez is a two-time Olympic champion and Dogbo previously held the WBO 55.3kg title. The day before the fight, the boxers were weighed: Ramirez – 57 kg, Dogbo – 56.5 kg.

Mexican WBO world champion weighing up to 57.2 kg Emmanuel Navarrete. However, he moved to a higher weight class and left the title vacant.

Ramirez’s advantage was undoubted. After the results of 12 rounds, all the judges gave the victory to Cuba. Robeisi won the vacant WBO world title.

Robeysi Ramirez (Cuba) – Isaac Dogbo (Ghana) – UD 12 (118–109, 119–108, 117–110)

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