This fight will tell us if Anthony Joshua is capable of winning a world title again. Only Joshua knows if he has it in him to climb that hill a third time.
We will know in four or five rounds exactly how much he has left. Jermaine Franklin is the best fight Joshua could take at this stage. We had him in for sparring with Daniel Dubois. This guy is durable, takes a good shot, throws punches and will make Joshua fight every minute of every round.
I thought Franklin did enough to get the decision against Dillian Whyte. He is the Buster Mathis of his generation. He doesn’t look great but he can fight all night long.
What Joshua needs to do is throw more combinations. Had he done that against Oleksandr Usyk he would have had more success. He has to be aggressive. And by that I mean hit with the jab then run off those combinations, bam, bam, bam.
Against a durable opponent that takes grit and effort, fitness and balls. You can’t be half hearted about it. If Joshua is short in any way this fella will jump on him.
Joshua is ten years a pro. He is not going to change now. At his best when he was on the way up he would have got rid of this guy. The motivation was different then. I like and respect Joshua. He is a good character and has been brilliant for our sport.
Though not among the best heavyweights the world has seen he is a two-time heavyweight champion, and we have not had too many of those in this country in the past 100 years.
In a sport where some people have many faces, Joshua has only ever shown one. He is a straight player and has done exceptionally well out of the game.
Importantly he has set a great example for kids. He has shown what you can achieve with hard work and dedication, qualities that might not sound glamorous but without them you are nothing. If he comes through this fight the right way then he should go after Fury, just as he has indicated.
It will take a lot more to beat Fury than Franklin, but at least he will have shown he is still up for the fight, that he has the motivation to go again. And if that is the case, I give him a good chance of taking Fury down.
- Follow Barry on Twitter at @ClonesCyclone @McGuigans_Gym
