Former two-time unified world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua claims that his upcoming fight with Jermaine Franklin could be harder compared to his two previous clashes with Oleksandr Usyk.
After back-to-back losses to the Ukrainian, Joshua is now looking to make a statement when the two meet on April 1 live on DAZN and kickstart his bid to become a world champion for a third time.
When speaking to The DAZN Boxing Show at Thursday's launch press conference for the fight, Joshua said, "I probably have to take Jermaine Franklin more seriously than I did Usyk for example."
"Not for the fact that I’m comparing, just for the fact that I now know better because of what I’ve been through and how I trained wasn’t enough, so now I know that I need to put more pressure on myself in order to perform better.
"As long as I’m going to be fighting, I’m always going to have this level of self-expectation to improve as a fighter."
In addition to being the start of what some see as rebuild for the Olympic Gold medalist, it will also be the first time Joshua will be taking orders from new trainer Derrick James, who has masterminded the careers of welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. and WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo.