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Boxing

Anthony Joshua vs. Jermaine Franklin: Joshua needs to win by stoppage, claims Carl Frampton

Anthony Joshua vs. Jermaine Franklin: Joshua needs to win by stoppage, claims Carl FramptonDAZN

Former world champion fighter Carl Frampton believes the pressure is on Anthony Joshua to stop Jermaine Franklin this weekend.

Joshua is coming back from twin defeats to Oleksandr Usyk as he mounts an attempt to become a three-time heavyweight world champion.

The Briton fights on Saturday against underdog American Franklin at the O2 Arena, live on DAZN.

“A loss, and I think that's the end for Joshua. Where does he go from there?” Frampton asked on the BBC.

“But I don't think that will happen. This is a fight where Joshua can get the confidence back a bit. After consecutive losses to Oleksandr Usyk, that's what the big man desperately needs.

“This is the perfect type of fight for Joshua to come back to - an opponent who is credible enough. I actually thought Franklin beat Dillian Whyte in his last fight, although he didn't get the decision.

“But in terms of a heavyweight boxer, he's got 22 fights with 14 knockouts. It's a nice ratio for a featherweight, but not necessarily for a heavyweight.

“Joshua is also in a gym full of good champions, with the Charlo brothers, Jermell and Jermall, and Errol Spence Jr. It's probably the first time in AJ's career he's not been the top dog in the gym.

He's got world champions there and it'll be good for him. He can feed off that.”

Frampton continued: “We want him to go back to the old AJ that we used to know. I'm not saying it was brute force and ignorance, but it was close to that.

“He's a big, big man and he just went and took people out. Dominated fights from the centre of the ring, going forward and being aggressive.

“AJ's not a boxer. He's not fleet-footed, he's a wrecking machine and he needs to get back to that.

“Can he turn back the clock? It's not going to be easy, but it's definitely possible.

“We've seen fighters suffer defeats in the heavyweight division that they weren't expected to lose and come back.”

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