Anthony Joshua will be looking to get back to winning ways this weekend when he takes on Jermaine Franklin at the O2 Arena in London.
The two-time heavyweight champion is on a run of three defeats in his last five contests and will be desperate to put on a show and get back on track against the American. We’ve taken a look at the Betfred markets to see if we can find any betting value in the capital on Saturday.
Where: O2 Arena, London
When: Saturday 1st April, 2023
How To Watch: DAZN. The undercard is set to begin at 6pm UK time with ring walks for the main fight expected at 10.30pm.
Anthony Joshua: 1/12
Jermaine Franklin: 7/1
Draw: 25/1
Anthony Joshua
To win on points: 9/2
To win via KO/TKO/DQ or Technical Decision: 2/7
Only two of Anthony Joshua’s 24 professional wins have gone the distance, with the 33-year-old holding a KO rate of 81.48%. However, as he proved against Dillian Whyte in November despite losing, Jermaine Franklin is one tough customer and a knockout win for the Brit is far from a certainty. This is by far Franklin’s biggest test though and AJ is a far more concussive puncher than Whyte who holds a career KO rate of 59.38%.
Personally, we expect Joshua to win this one inside the distance but think it might be late, so perhaps round betting may offer up some better value.
Jermaine Franklin
To win on points: 14/1
To win via KO/TKO/DQ or Technical Decision: 12/1
The 989 Assassin impressed many in his gutsy majority decision defeat to Dillian Whyte last year, with several arguing the American had done enough to keep his previously unblemished record intact. Franklin isn’t the biggest puncher in the world, with only one of his last five wins coming inside the distance, so, if he does win, we can probably rule out him stopping AJ whose only knockout loss came against Andy Ruiz Jr in 2019.
Anthony Joshua Rounds 1-3: 6/1
Anthony Joshua Rounds 4-6: 17/2
Anthony Joshua Rounds 7-9: 15/8
Anthony Joshua Rounds 10-12: 4/1
Since beating Charles Martin in 2016 for the IBF heavyweight strap, Anthony Joshua has fought eleven times, winning eight - six of those inside the distance. Of those six knockouts, only Eric Molina failed to make it to at least the seventh round, with four of those knockouts coming between the ninth and twelfth.
If Anthony Joshua does win late like we expect, the two round groups betting options with the most value look to be rounds 7-9 or rounds 10-12. Because AJ simply needs to put on a show this weekend following back-to-back losses to Olekdandr Usyk, we’re leaning towards the slightly earlier rounds of 7-9.
*18+ | BeGambleAware | Odds Subject To Change
