Boxing
At last, Anthony Joshua returns to the ring
After successive defeats in the hands of Ukraine’s Olelsandr Usyk, the latest being last August, Anthony Joshua is returning to the ring to fight American heavywight Jermaine Franklin at the O2 Arena on 1 April.
He had earlier turned down a title fight with Tyson Fury, the holder of the WBC belt. Joshua had earlier lost his three belts – WBA, WBO and IBF to the Ukrainian in September 2021 and failed in the bid to regain them last August.
But Joshua will face Franklin – who trained alongside Tyson Fury in the build-up to the former’s showdown with Dillian Whyte in November 2022.
For Jishua, this is a must-win fight as he looks to work his way back to the top of the heavyweight division.
Joshua and Franklin haJoshua (right) suffered a second-straight defeat by Usyk (left) in August (above), having lost his WBA, WBO and IBF belts to the Ukrainian in September 2021ve agreed on the financials for the fight and will sign the final paperwork later on Monday afternoon.
Joshua will be looking to reassert his dominance in the heavyweight division, while Franklin will be looking to bounce back from his defeat by Whyte in November 2022.
Joshua looked set to face Fury in December but negotiations between the two British boxers collapsed in October after the Gypsy King grew frustrated with how long AJ’s team were taking to sign the contract.
AJ was disappointed to see the deal fall through as they had made good progress – having agreed on the financial terms of the fight, splitting the purse 60/40 in the favour of the WBC champion.
The pair had also named the Principality Stadium in Cardiff as the chosen location and agreed on the TV rights – which were said to be stumbling block. However, it wasn’t meant to be.
AJ was then linked to unbeaten Australian heavyweight Demsey McKean as the southpaw called for the fight after he won the IBF Intercontinental heavyweight belt last October.
However, Sportsmail can confirm that Joshua has agreed a deal to face Franklin at the O2 Arena on April 1 instead.
Franklin went toe-to-toe with Whyte in November 2022 but the British boxer emerged victorious with a majority decision after their 12-round contest at Wembley Arena.
Franklin felt as though he had been ‘robbed’ – with Michael Alexander scoring their bout level at 115-115 while Juergen Landos and Grzegorz Molenda scored the fight 116-112 in favour of Whyte.
Therefore, Franklin will be back with a vengeance when he face Joshua at the O2 Arena on April 1.
Tyson Fury wants to fight Anthony Joshua in a long-awaited clash of British former heavyweight world champions if he wins his comeback against Canada-based Russian Arslanbek Makhmudov in London on Saturday.
Fury, 37, has come out of retirement for the fifth time in his career to get back into the ring at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium and is looking well beyond the weekend.
“I’ve got Arslanbek Makhmudov to think of on Saturday night, but all going well (Joshua is) the fight I want next,” he told BBC radio on Wednesday.
“I know he just had his fight with Jake Paul, whatever… a fight’s a fight, really. So yeah, I’ll be ready for that straight away after this.”
Joshua, 36, last fought in December when he dealt American Jake Paul a reality check with a savage sixth round knockout in Miami.
A few days after that, the former WBA, IBF and WBO champion was taken to hospital in Nigeria following a car accident that killed two close friends.
American former WBC world champion Deontay Wilder has also called out Joshua for a long-awaited matchup after beating Briton Derek Chisora on a split-decision last Saturday.
Fury, who has not fought since losing to Ukraine’s reigning world champion Oleksandr Usyk in December 2024, dismissed the idea of that happening.
“I’ve never seen two men slide as much as these two,” he said of the Wilder v Chisora bout. “They look like a couple of club fighters from a white-collar match in a local leisure centre. It was sad for me to watch.”
-Reuters
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Former world champion Deontay Wilder sent Derek Chisora into retirement by edging their engaging yet chaotic heavyweight fight in London, United Kingdom.
The boxers, aged 40 and 42 respectively, threw hopeful knockout punches and barely jabbed. Both slipped and fell to the canvas frequently during the bout at the O2 Arena on Saturday.
Wilder got the only knockdown in the eighth round, sending Chisora through the ropes, but the American was deducted a point in the same round for pushing. Chisora was rattled, but Wilder did not press his advantage.
Wilder dominated the early rounds, and Chisora rallied late. The judges were split in their scoring: Wilder received scores of 115-111 and 115-113, and the third picked Chisora by 115-112
Wilder said the fight was fun and suggested he didn’t want to knock out Chisora.
“Tonight, I looked out for him. I want him to live for his kids,” he told broadcaster DAZN. “It’s time for us to take care of each other.”
Chisora said in the build-up that the fight was to be his last, but the Londoner was reluctant to confirm it afterwards.
“I’m going to go home with the boss lady and see,” he told DAZN. “I’m going to go home and drop the kids, do the school run.”
It was the 50th fight for both in the professional ranks.
Wilder improved his record to 45-4-1. The WBC titleholder from 2015 to 2020 came to London having lost four of his last six fights.
Chisora’s record since 2007, when he turned pro a year before Wilder, dropped to 36-14. He lost his only two title shots against Vitali Klitschko in 2012 and Tyson Fury in 2022.
-The Associated Press
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Manny Pacquiao said he has signed a contract for a fight with Floyd Mayweather and that he would not get back into the ring with the American if it was an exhibition bout.
Mayweather, 49, and Pacquiao, 47 announced last month that they would meet at the Sphere in Las Vegas in September, with the bout streaming globally on Netflix.
However, Mayweather told Vegas Sports Today last week that it would be an exhibition bout, not a real fight, and that a venue had yet to be decided.
“If that’s what he is feeling but he signed for a real match. The contract that we signed is for a real fight,” Pacquiao told local media on Thursday. “He has to remember that.”
Mayweather, who holds a perfect 50-0 record with 27 knockouts, defeated Pacquiao in a 2015 encounter dubbed the “Fight of the Century”.
Jas Mathur, CEO of Manny Pacquiao Promotions and a producer for the event, said the agreement was for a fight.
“No one in these last three months has brought up anything related to the venue or related to the fight not being a professional fight,” Mathur told ESPN.
“His team has had all the contracts. He signed all the contracts.”
Reuters has requested comment from Mayweather’s camp.
The 2015 bout between the boxers generated a record 4.6 million pay-per-view buys and a $72 million live gate at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
-Reuters
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