At tonight’s main event at the O2 Arena in London, Anthony Joshua and Jermaine Franklin will square off against one another.
Joshua has a chance to win the bout after suffering two straight defeats to Oleksandr Usyk. After overcoming “AJ” on points once more in August of last year to retain the championships, the unbeaten Ukrainian defeated Joshua in 2021 to become the undisputed heavyweight champion.
Joshua, 33, is currently trying to rebuild, and his first fight is against American Franklin, who made his UK debut last November against Dillian Whyte. Although Franklin, 29, lost a close decision against Whyte, many spectators and observers believed that Franklin had done enough to earn the victory.
Franklin has, in any case, received his biggest-ever match, tonight’s main event versus Joshua. So who is fighting at the O2 Arena’s undercard?
Fabio Wardley, Campbell Hatton, and Galal Yafai are the three names to keep an eye out for. All three fighters are British, and Wardley (15-0, 14 knockouts) is quickly rising to become one of the nation’s top heavyweight prospects. Ricky Hatton’s son, lightweight Hatton (10-0, 3 KOs), is also an undefeated fighter. Flyweight Yafai (3-0, 2 KOs), who won gold in the Tokyo Olympics, has only recently started his professional career.