Anthony Joshua announced his return with a dominant points win over Jermaine Franklin on Saturday night, though failed to secure the knockout he would have so craved on his comeback at London’s O2 Arena.
The two-time heavyweight world champion bounced back from consecutive defeats by Oleksandr Usyk and effectively saved his career by easing to a fiesty but largely one-sided unanimous decision victory with wide scores of 118-111, 117-111, 117-111, though was denied a stoppage by his extremely durable American opponent.
The two-time world champion was fighting without a title on the line for the first time since 2015.
Joshua went into the bout having lost three of his previous five contests.
Speaking after the bout Joshua said “I should’ve knocked out’ Franklin,” he boasted.
