Former two time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua admits that he wasn’t impressive back in April, when he secured a tougher than expected twelve round unanimous decision over Jermaine Franklin.
The victory saw Joshua recover after suffering back to back defeats at the hands of WBO, IBF, IBO, WBA champion Oleksandr Usyk.
Joshua will return to the ring on August 12, when he faces Dillian Whyte in a rematch at the O2 Arena in London.
In December of 2015, Joshua stopped Whyte in seven rounds.
The upcoming fight will be the second paring between Joshua and head trainer Derrick James. The respected coach is best known for his work with Errol Spence, Frank Martin and Jermell Charlo.
Eddie Hearn, who promotes Joshua, recently traveled to Texas and paid a visit to the British star in training camp.
Joshua promised him that everyone will see a much better performance next month.
“When I saw AJ in Dallas last week, a couple of things stood out. One is, ‘I can’t believe how good things are with Derrick [James]. Derrick is an unbelievable trainer, we are gelling so well.’ In the first camp, he was enjoying it, but I feel like they’ve just taken that time. Secondly, he’s happy, excited, and looking forward to a real fight,” Hearn told Talk Sport.
“Also, acknowledging that his performance against Franklin was poor. You know, I said to him, ‘We’ve got Franklin on the show this week in Detroit, he’s a good fighter.’ He went, ‘Oh, I was terrible that night… It wasn’t a good performance, next time I’ll be much better.'”
Should Joshua come away with his hand raised, he will move forward to a potential showdown with former WBC world champion Deontay Wilder – which is targeted for a December date in Saudi Arabia.
Credit: BoxingScene