‘Anthony Joshua looks like a bruiser’

PHOTO: Boxingnews24

Anthony Joshua looks like a “bruiser” for his fight against Jermaine Franklin this Saturday night, according to Gareth A. Davies, writes boxingnews24.com.

Joshua seems as heavy as he did when he fought Carlos Takam in October 2017 in Cardiff, Wales. AJ weighed a bulky 254 lbs for that fight, was slow, and lacked the ability combinations that he had before adding all that muscle weight.

Initially, it was thought that the former unified heavyweight champion (24-3, 22 KOs) would trim down his big bodybuilder physique when he teamed up with new trainer, Derrick James, in Texas because he’s not a coach that focuses on boxing training, not having his fighters hit the weight room to add bulky, useless muscles.

The 33-year-old Joshua admitted this week that he’s lifting weights and hasn’t backed off that part of his training for some reason. You can argue that old habits, even bad ones die hard, and Joshua couldn’t resist the magnetic pull of the weight room for his scheduled 12 round headliner fight against Franklin (21-1, 14 KOs) this Saturday, April 1 at the O2 Arena in London.

“He looks big. He says he’s gone through torture with Derrick Jame. Derrick was telling me last night. He told me that there were times when he had Joshua doing 15 minutes of nonstop boxing on the pads. Fifteen minutes, and all these sparring sessions,” Gareth A. Davies told talkSPORT.

“He looks big; he looks like a bruiser. Hopefully, he’ll be brutal on Saturday night. He’s one of the most scrutinised athletes in the world, and he has been for the last 10 years.

“For someone in his position that has won the Olympic heavyweight gold in his own home city. In the mainstream, I think people are still fascinated by him as a character, and his