Jermaine Franklin

Interview: The American looks ahead to the biggest fight of his career, against 'AJ' in London on Saturday.

“I ain’t gonna say I was a bad kid, but I used to be in fights and s*** like that,” Franklin laughs, “so seeing me doing something positive was always something good, I guess! The world is still sleeping on me, but y’all are giving him somewhat of a bad reputation, but the guy he [just] lost to hasn’t lost yet.” There is an air of realism to his assessment; “I still need some big fights,” he admits, and the next will arrive this weekeend. If you tell the universe that you’re scared or have doubts, that can come to fruition; but if you tell the universe, ‘I’m gonna do it,’ then there’s a high possibility of that coming to fruition.” That bout quickly became a brawl, and its result soon became irrelevant; the winner’s reward was to be a clash with Joshua, yet it is Franklin – not Whyte – squaring off with “AJ” this week. And I was kind of a big kid, so I guess that was easier for her, not to see me get beat on. “I won’t say the hunger won’t be the same, I just think his losses probably messed with him a little bit,” Franklin suggests. That figure would cast a shadow over most fighters, but – in any case – Franklin is content to sit in the dark for now. it was weird to this little guy pop-shotting him, and all the frustration start to come out [of Joshua]. Yet, every time, there is also an undercurrent of curiosity as to whether it may just be the hulking figure of On Saturday, the same will be the case. Franklin sits at one end of a long table, in the middle of a hotel function room in Brentford, surrounded by journalists.