Jermaine Franklin sends message of "rude awakening" to Anthony Joshua

Jermaine Franklin is planning on making Anthony Joshua's next fight a short one.

'AJ' has been out of action since his split-decision defeat at the hands of Oleksandr Usyk last August. The defeat was his second in a row to 'The Cat', and the former two-time champion was seemingly in the mood for a reset.

The Brit later had talks fall through between himself and Tyson Fury for December. Following that, Joshua stated his intention to keep quiet and just get back to work. He later dropped trainer Robert Garcia in favor of Derrick James, who coaches names such as Errol Spence Jr. and others.

Anthony Joshua's first fight on the comeback tour, so to speak, comes in the form of Jermaine Franklin. '989 Assassin' is a relatively unproven heavyweight at the top level, with his most high-profile bout being a controversial decision defeat to Dillian Whyte last year.

Ahead of the biggest fight of his life, Franklin just wasn't happy to be there. In a recent interview with BoxingScene, he stated his intention to knockout the returning Anthony Joshua this Saturday night.

In the interview, he stated:

“They’re probably looking at me like I’m a pushover or a walkover or something like that but they’re going to be in for a rude awakening. A goal of mine is I want to be a unified World Champion. I just want to help boxers. I love the sport and I want to continue to help other fighters grow. I want to give back to the sport what it gave to me."

See his comments in the post below:

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Anthony Joshua next fight: Betting Odds

Anthony Joshua is a massive favorite to defeat Jermaine Franklin this weekend.

'AJ' is coming off back-to-back losses to Oleksandr Usyk, but it's hard to hold that against him. Both fights with 'The Cat' were reasonably close, with one judge even believing Joshua deserved the nod last August.

Meanwhile, '989 Assassin' is a heavyweight unknown to a lot of the greater public. While that's not entirely his fault, he did come up short against Dillian Whyte in the first step of his career last year.

With all that in mind, it's no surprise that the oddsmakers are rolling with Anthony Joshua on his return. While Jermaine Franklin has plans to finish the former champion, fans aren't as convinced.

The Brit enters the contest a sizeable -1250 betting favorite for this Saturday. Meanwhile, Franklin returns as the +700 betting underdog.