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Former two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua is set to face Jermaine Franklin on April 1 at the O2 Arena in London. The upcoming fight will see Joshua aiming to rebound after back-to-back losses against Oleksandr Usyk, while Franklin will be seeking redemption after a close points loss to Dillian Whyte.
In the lead up to the fight, Franklin has revealed his plans to verbally abuse Joshua during the bout. While he is usually quiet in the pre-fight build-up, Franklin intends to make things rough once he faces Joshua in the ring.
“I talk trash in the ring but not before the fight. In the ring I might call him soft, or a p-ssy, I start my talk in the ring. Outside the ring I might not say much, but inside you might hear me tell him: ‘Your momma hits harder than you’.
"Trash talk outside the ring is not my persona, I do it in the ring, during the fight, in the clinches," Franklin said to The Sun.
He believes that trash talking in the ring will help him frustrate Joshua and gain an advantage in the fight. “I want to frustrate my opponent in the ring. I’m probably too silly to trash talk outside of it, I will make myself laugh and not be able to stop giggling. But my switch flicks in the ring and I get more ruthless. In my Dillian Whyte fight in November I called him weak. One time he hit me and I told him: ‘You’re too soft’.”
Franklin also expects to face the best version of Joshua possible and believes that the London star is far from a finished product. He recognizes Joshua's achievements in the sport and will not turn on him despite his recent losses to Usyk.
“I love the sport so — until someone can show me that AJ is finished — I will not question him, he has done too much. As a fighter, I cannot just turn on him when he is an Olympic gold medal winner who reigned as a world champion for a long time," Franklin said.
Franklin acknowledges that Joshua's stock has taken a hit due to his losses to Usyk, but believes that it will increase if Usyk remains unbeaten. He hopes to be greater than Joshua in the future and is looking forward to their upcoming fight.
The upcoming fight between Anthony Joshua and Jermaine Franklin promises to be an intense affair, with Franklin planning to use verbal abuse to gain an advantage in the ring. Fans will be eagerly anticipating the outcome of this highly anticipated bout.