Who is fighting on the Joshua vs Franklin undercard? Fabio Wardley and more

Alex Pattle
·2 min read

Anthony Joshua and Jermaine Franklin will go head to head in a main-event contest at the O2 Arena in London tonight.

For Joshua, the fight marks an opportunity to bounce back from two straight losses to Oleksandr Usyk. The unbeaten Ukrainian outpointed Joshua in 2021 to become unified heavyweight champion, before defeating “AJ” on points again last August to retain the titles.

Now Joshua, 33, looks to rebuild, and his first task is a clash with American Franklin, who made his UK debut against Dillian Whyte in November. Franklin, 29, lost a narrow decision to Whyte, but many fans and pundits felt that the American had done enough to secure the win.

In any case, Franklin has been rewarded with his biggest ever bout – tonight’s main event with Joshua. But who is fighting on the undercard at the O2 Arena?

The key names to look out for are Fabio Wardley, Campbell Hatton and Galal Yafai. All three are undefeated Britons, with Wardley (15-0, 14 knockouts) emerging as one of the country’s top heavyweight prospects, while lightweight Hatton (10-0, 3 KOs) is the son of boxing legend Ricky Hatton. Meanwhile, flyweight Yafai (3-0, 2 KOs) has just begin his professional career after winning gold at the Tokyo Olympics.

Another fighter to watch is Austin “Ammo” Williams. The American (13-0, 9 KOs) is one of the most exciting middleweights coming through right now, and he is well liked by promoter Eddie Hearn.

Full card

Anthony Joshua vs Jermaine Franklin (heavyweight)

Fabio Wardley vs Michael Polite Coffie (heavyweight)

Galal Yafai vs Moises Calleros (flyweight)

Campbell Hatton vs Louis Fielding (super-lightweight)

Austin “Ammo” Williams vs River Wilson-Bent (middleweight)

John Hedges vs Daniel Bocianski (light-heavyweight)

Jordan Flynn vs Kane Barker (super featherweight)

Juergen Uldedaj vs Benoit Huber (cruiserweight)

Ziyad Almaayouf vs Georgi Velichkov (super-lightweight)

Peter Kadiru vs Alen Lauriolle (heavyweight)

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