Anthony Joshua returned to action with a points win over Jermaine Franklin as the Briton partially regained his confidence after two straight defeats by Oleksandr Usyk.
Joshua, 33, who was outpointed by Usyk in September 2021 and August 2022, lost the unified heavyweight titles in the first of those fights and failed to regain the belts in the second.
The result leaves more questions than answers, with Franklin a morale winner after also losing a narrow decision to Dillian Whyte.
According to Sports Lens, 29-year-old Franklin received approximately £800,000 for tonight’s main event against Joshua. However, it is reported that the figure could rise to above £1million when factoring in sponsorship deals.
Meanwhile, Joshua is said to be on course to earn roughly £10m for the fight. Last time out, Joshua reportedly made approximately £33m, but this evening’s bout with Franklin is admittedly not on the scale of Joshua vs Usyk 2. In any case, the Briton remains one of the biggest attractions in boxing, and with his base pay and sponsorships combined, Joshua has made another major payday tonight.
Speaking at the first press conference for tonight’s main event, Joshua said last month that his motivation was “money, money, money”.
“I like making money, straight up,” Joshua said. “I’ve been broke, my family’s been broke, I know what this s*** means. I always built businesses outside of boxing, out of fear of going back to square one, but when I’m said and done, no one will care about me anymore, so I’ll make the most of it while I’m here.”
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