On November 26th at Wembley Arena, Dillian Whyte makes his first appearance since his disappointing defeat at the hands of Tyson fury back in April in his sole attempt at a world title to date, the man employed on this night to offer some stubborn resistance is the undefeated American Jermaine Franklin, a 29 year old native of Saginaw Michigan who has an impressive record of 21-0 (14 Ko’s) and has served as a sparring partner for Whyte’s more recent Victor, Tyson Fury. Unfortunately, despite some impressive statistics and some good spiel, Franklin has only boxed once in 38 months and on that night only beat a 20-21 Rodney Moore who has previously boxed as light as super middleweight. Jermaine has looked impressive in victories over the notable Rydell Booker and Pavel Sour, where a tenacious work-rate and respectable power won the day. The unfortunate yet notable statistic regarding Franklin’s record is a 2019 bout with the durable yet average Jerry Forrest where most ringside onlookers had Forrest a clear winner despite a shady decision in Jermaine’s favour. Whyte himself 29-3 (19 Ko’s) is coming off 2 knockout losses in his last 4 outings and needs an impressive showing to ensure that the top tier fights remain on table. Victory here and an impressive one at that could potentially secure an AJ rematch and at 35 the Brixton puncher knows that slip ups aren't an option. Franklin has to understand that he is stepping several echelons above the level of anyone that he has ever stepped foot in the ring with and in my opinion one appearance in 3 years against inept opposition and a move around with Fury wearing headgear and 18 ounce gloves aren’t enough to sharpen your tools for a live version of Whyte. Franklin may be busy enough and brave enough to offer Dillian a nice workout but let’s make it clear, this should be routine work for Whyte and a stark education for Franklin about how there are levels to this sport.
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