Jermaine Franklin felt as though Anthony Joshua lacked confidence during their press conference Wednesday in London.
Franklin examined the British superstar’s body language during their face-to-face meeting on stage after they spoke. The American underdog walked away from their faceoff feeling as if the former IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion isn’t as sure of himself as he once was.
“I mean, I just try to stare in people’s soul a little bit, see how they feeling,” Franklin told DAZN’s broadcast team of Barak Bess, Ade Oladipo and Akin Reyes following the press conference for a 12-round main event DAZN will stream Saturday night from O2 Arena. “I’m big off of energy. I wanna see if your energy feels confident or not. I didn’t see the confidence. I sensed a little [worry from him]. … I didn’t see [confidence]. I seen a little bit of [worry], a little bit of timidness. And I’m not gonna say that’s because of me. You know, he could have other things going on in life, other pressures going on. You know, but I sensed a little bit of being unsure.”
The 33-year-old Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) has lost back-to-back 12-round fights to undefeated Ukrainian southpaw Oleksandr Usyk. He hired a new trainer, American Derrick James, following his split-decision defeat to Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) in their championship rematch August 20 at Jeddah Superdome in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Joshua, a 2012 Olympic gold medalist, is much more experienced, though, than the 29-year-old Franklin (21-14 KOs) at the championship level.
Franklin’s last fight – a 12-round, majority-decision defeat to Joshua’s rival, Dillan Whyte – was the Saginaw, Michigan native’s first fight against a heavyweight contender. One judge, Michael Alexander, scored Whyte-Franklin a draw, but judges Juergen Langos and Grzegorz Molenda both scored London’s Whyte (29-3, 19 KOs) a 116-112 winner over Franklin on November 26 at OVO Arena Wembley in London.
Despite Franklin’s performance against Whyte, most sportsbooks have established Watford’s Joshua as at least a 10-1 favorite to defeat Franklin.
“I mean, they always overlook me,” Franklin said. “You know, I’m comfortable here. I feel no pressure from it. I’m at home. I always been the underdog. You know, like I said before, where we from we don’t get a lotta opportunities. So, we prove people wrong every day, just by making it out or doing something positive with our life.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.