It is no longer news. Former two-time Heavyweight Champion of the World Anthony Joshua will return to our screens on April 1 live from The O2, fighting American powerhouse Jermaine Franklin, in an all-eyes-on epic showdown.
This fight will be the first in Joshua’s new five-year partnership with DAZN to be streamed live, exclusively and worldwide on the digital sports entertainment platform, which is fast becoming the undisputed Global Home of Boxing.
Joshua failed to recapture the heavyweight titles that he lost to the unbeaten Ukrainian in 2021 when he also suffered a decisive defeat. This will be Joshua’s fight not to be aired on PPV in the UK.
Jermaine Franklin lost by a narrow decision to Dillian Whyte, in a fight, most thought he did enough to win the fight. Should Joshua beat Franklin, a rematch with Whyte, who he knocked out in 2015, would be well on the cards. Joshua’s boxing career will be on the line, so he can’t afford to take Franklin lightly.
We will be expecting the following bouts from Match room:
Leigh Wood vs Mauricio Lara on Feb. 18.
Callum Smith vs Pawel Stepien on Mar. 11.
Liam Paro vs Robbie Davies Jr, Diego Pacheco’s UK debut against Jack Cullen.
Cyrus Pattinson vs Chris Jenkins on Mar. 18. Pat McCormack and Solomon Dacres are also on the card.
Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez vs Cristian Gonzalez in San Antonio on Apr. 8 for the vacant WBO flyweight title.
Shavkat Rakhimov vs Joe Cordina for Rakhimov’s IBF belt at 130 lbs, which Cordina held but had to vacate due to injury. They were meant to fight for it, now it’s set for Cardiff, giving Cordina a home advantage.
Katie Taylor vs Amanda Serrano 2 in Dublin, which was announced over the weekend.
