By Peter Akinbo
Tickets for Anthony Joshua vs Jermaine Franklin have not been selling as expected and it appears fans have branded the contest uninteresting with thousands of tickets still available.
The O2 Arena’s website shows that there are loads of sections with available seating just a month out from the fight on April 1.
Joshua has lost three out of his last four bouts and so is set to take a step down in competition in order to rebuild some momentum against the American.
Franklin (21-1) last fought in November in a losing effort against Dillian Whyte but earned plaudits for taking the Briton down to the wire after being widely written off by critics.
Meanwhile, Joshua (27-3) had the option to face either Otto Wallin, Demsey McKean, or Franklin and went with the latter.
Providing all goes well against Franklin, he is expected to box Whyte in June followed by a blockbuster showdown against Tyson Fury or Deontay Wilder to close out the year.
But with Joshua expected to get back on track against Franklin next month, it seems fans aren’t as excited for the matchup, with a huge array of seats still without buyers to watch the fight in person.
There is still just under four weeks to go until fight night but early indications suggest that Joshua could struggle to sell out the arena despite having previously filled far bigger venues on multiple occasions such as the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Wembley.
Joshua stock has fallen considerably over the past few years following back-to-back defeats to Ukrainian heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.
Meanwhile, UK magazine readers recently ruled out Joshua regaining the world titles with 82.7% of the 4,862 voters in the poll believing his time at the top is over. His comeback fight with Franklin also ranked bottom in a recent poll which asked readers which fights in 2023 they were most looking forward to while Tyson Fury vs Usyk came out on top.
Source: The Punch
