Joshua reaches the point of no return in must-win clash against Franklin

A s Anthony Joshua walks to the ring at the 02 in London on Saturday night, to face the relatively limited American Jermaine Franklin, it will be more than two years and three months since he last had his hand raised in victory. In December 2020, on a bleak winter night in the midst of Covid and in front of a sparse crowd of a thousand socially distanced fans, Joshua bludgeoned Kubrat Pulev to earn a ninth-round stoppage win.

Despite lockdown restrictions, Joshua left Wembley Arena on a high as he retained his IBF, WBA and WBO world heavyweight titles. It seemed certain, then, that he would soon fight Tyson Fury, the WBC belt-holder, for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world.

Boxing politics, however, derailed that wildly lucrative showdown and, instead of facing Fury, Joshua was clearly beaten by the much smaller but far more skilful Oleksandr Usyk in September 2021. In only his third fight as a heavyweight, after he had dominated the cruiserweight division, Usyk’s victory was not really a shock to the boxing hardcore. But it was a sign of the chaos in his corner that Joshua looked initially surprised when the scorecards went against him.

In the rematch in Jeddah, last August, Joshua produced a much improved performance and was ahead on points when he rocked Usyk in the ninth round. But the hugely impressive Ukrainian showed his more natural aptitude for fighting as he outfought Joshua comprehensively in the last three championship rounds to retain his titles.

A distressed and concussed Joshua reacted in uncharacteristic fashion. He threw two of Usyk’s belts out of the ring and stormed away to his dressing room – only to make a sudden U-turn and climb between the ropes again. Just as Usyk should have