MMA Fighting is offering live updates on Saturday evening at The 02 in London, England, for the epic Anthony Joshua vs. Jermaine Franklin battle! The fight will start around 5 o’clock ET and you can check out our results page to know what happened during the undercard fights. You can also place your bets on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Anthony Joshua, who has a record of 24 wins and 3 losses, lost his two fights against heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, including the one in August. Jermaine Franklin had a record of 21 wins and 1 loss before his most recent fight in November which was a loss by majority decision to Dillian Whyte. Keep reading for the live blog of the fight between Joshua and Franklin!
Anthony Joshua is about to fight Jermaine Franklin. Joshua looks calm, confident and ready to go as he enters the ring. The referee Marcus McDonnell introduces each fighter and the crowd boos for Franklin and cheers for Joshua. To start off, Joshua hits Franklin with a few jabs, followed by a right hand and left hook. He holds onto him and then breaks free when Given’s ready; it’s been a slow start overall so far. MMA Fighting scores this round 10-9 to Joshua.
Round 2: Joshua already has a bloody nose and the two fighters were arguing at the end of that round. Joshua is taking it step-by-step and punches out a few jabs. He lands a nice counter right hand, which is his first good shot of the night. Then Franklin puts together a three punch combination followed by a big right hand. Joshua then answers back but blood still comes out of his nose again. He goes for the body, so MMA Fighting scored this round 10-9 in favor of Joshua (with 20-18 being overall score for Joshua).
Round 3: Franklin threw a jab which made his corner shout encouragement. Joshua was able to do a three punch combo and hit Franklin with an extra right hand. Both Joshua and Franklin traded punches until the end of the round, but Joshua had the edge allowing MMA Fighting to award him 10-9 for that round. In total, Joshua won that fight 30-27.
Round 4: This isn’t like a really exciting fight. The announcers are saying how Joshua seems kind of unsure and slow. Franklin is also saying mean things to Joshua. Joshua tried to hit him with a left hook, but it didn’t work. Franklin punched twice at the head area, and then Joshua pumped his jab and hugged him. For a while, nothing was really happening in this sparring match. But then Franklin came running at Joshua with lots of punches! Luckily, Joshua was able to dodge all of them, and he made a good counter attack afterwards! MMA Fighting gave the round to Joshua by 10 points to 9 (which makes it 40-36).
Round 5: Joshua hit Franklin hard on the right side and he misses with a flurry of punches. Joshua then landed a forearm blow to the head, followed by another powerful right hand. But Franklin kept punching but couldn’t land any successful shot. Joshua was declared the clear winner for this round by MMA Fighting, scoring 10-9 (giving him 50-45 overall).
We are halfway through the fight and neither fighter has done much damage. Franklin finally throws a punch that connects, and starts to fight back. He swings some combinations but nothing big hits. Then another right hand by Franklin manages to reach it’s target. His best round yet! They scuffle close up and then Joshua throws two punches with Franklin replying in kind. According to MMA fighting, Franklins wins this round 10-9. (Joshua still leads 59-55).
Round 7: Franklin tried to attack but couldn’t hit Joshua, and he got punched in the body instead. Joshua got back at him with a one-two combination of jabs, then Franklin tried to fight back as well. But Joshua used his defense to shut down Franklin’s attempt. According to MMA Fighting, this round goes to Joshua 10-9. (So, Joshua has won 69-64.)
Joshua entered the middle of the ring and started throwing out jabs. Then a strong straight right punch from Joshua landed on Franklin’s body. After that, an overhand right almost touched Franklin’s ear. As it seemed like there was no interest from either side, each time when Franklin stepped closer, Joshua responded by pressing his weight onto him. According to MMA Fighting, this round goes to Joshua with a score of 10-9 which gives him a total score of 79-73 so far.
Round 9: This fight isn’t interesting at all. Franklin is trying really hard to get punches at the body but Joshua keeps getting in a clinch and stopping him from doing that. Even though Franklin keeps getting warned by the referee, he still tries to punch Joshua but gets grabbed back into another clinch. Finally the referee has had enough of this and tells them off for their behavior. Then, Franklin manages to land one great punch! But then Joshua quickly jabs him with his hand before quickly grabbing him again. Overall, MMA Fighting thinks that Franklin won this round which makes it 88-83 in favor of Joshua overall so far.
This round was supposed to show how amazing Anthony Joshua is, but it wasn’t very impressive yet. Joshua kept trying his best, throwing the jab and clinching any time Franklin got close. They both swung punches at each other with a lot of energy and Joshua scored some hits with a stiff left and hard right hand. Even Joshua’s corner was telling him to be more aggressive! Both fighters were really trying, trading punches back and forth until the end of the round where Joshua had finally won it. The judges gave this round 10-9 Joshua which puts him 98-92 in the match overall.
Round 11: Franklin threw some punches, but then got stuck. Joshua landed a powerful hit to the body. Then Franklin fired back with a hard right-hand punch! Franklin rushed forwards, attacking with rapid punches and they both ended up in a hug. Joshua then scored with a few jabs. Franklin came back and popped him with a right hand punch. The referee didn’t stop them after Joshua finished with another sneaky punch. According to MMA Fighting’s score, it was 10-9 for Franklin (107-102 for Joshua).
Joshua and Franklin have three minutes to fight. Every time they come close together, Joshua punches Franklin with body shots. But the referee warns Franklin twice not to stick too close! Even after all of that, Joshua is still punching away at his opponent while Franklin tries hard to hit back but can’t seem to find a proper target. The bell rings but the two fighters keep arguing. It was an okay fight, according to MMA Fighting as Joshua won 10-9 (117-111).
A decision has been made: Anthony Joshua won the fight against Jermaine Franklin! All three judges agreed and gave their scores as 118-111, 117-111 and 117-111.
Joshua says he should have won that fight but it’s over now and he wants to go on. He said that no one will remember that fight in 15 years from now. Joshua mentioned Tyson Fury’s name, saying the ball is in his court to decide if they want to fight or not. Eddie Hearn also joined stating everyone is getting old and suggested the Tyson Fury Fight should be done soon. At the end of it all, Joshua said that he’ll be back in Summer for his next match.
