sport news Anthony Joshua finally has something to build-on after beating Jermaine Franklin trends now
Anthony Joshua was back in the bowels of the O2, preparing for the short journey he first walked ten years ago, when time began to turn inside the arena, too.
On the screens above the ring, they wound the clocks back to 2013, to this place, and flicked through the archives. Starting with Joshua’s debut on this same canvas. It was a highlights reel of knockouts and spite and swagger.
It was a reminder of how much Joshua has done and how far he has fallen. That slide, sparked by the first of three defeats in his five fights, halted before Joshua reached square one. But still it led AJ back here. Back to where it all started.
The hope was this fight with Jermaine Franklin would be a return journey, too. Back towards the top. Back to something like his old self.
Back towards a collision course with Tyson Fury? Or Deontay Wilder or Joe Joyce? New Dawn, they billed it. Rebirth at 33 after 27 fights. Defeat would have ended this era before it had begun.
Anthony Joshua (L) finally has something to build on after beating Jermaine Franklin (R)
The Brit earned a point victory over his American counterpart at the O2 Arena
Joshua put an end to his two year wait for a win by defeating Franklin on Saturday night
By the end, Joshua’s white shorts were doused in blood red. His nose was leaking, his face was swelling and much of the gloss of this homecoming had faded.
For a while this was underwhelming and uninspiring. Certainly the post-fight handbags will linger longer in the memory than many of the early rounds.
Joshua still seems stuck somewhere between the fighter he was, the fighter he is and the fighter he wants to be.
But after more than two years without a win, it is a start. Something to build on. A stepping stone back towards bigger nights.
‘Who do the fans want?’ AJ
