By Barry Holbrook: Jermaine Franklin views his fight against Dillian Whyte on November 26th as an opportunity to change his life by defeating him to get a chance to face Anthony Joshua.
Franklin (21-0, 14 KOs) feels that he can create generational wealth for himself if he beats Whyte (28-3, 19 KOs) to get a mega-payday against Joshua.
Promoter Eddie Hearn has already revealed that Franklin could get a fight against AJ if he defeats the 34-year-old former world title challenger Whyte in their clash at the OVO Arena Wembley, London, England.
What Hearn didn’t tell the 29-year-old Franklin is that he could end up facing Whyte in a rematch before he gets a potential shot against Joshua.
You’ve got to believe that if Franklin defeats Whyte, a rematch would be a given because this isn’t the type of opponent that Dillian can walk away from if he loses to him.
Franklin is being brought in as a tune-up and confidence booster for Whyte, who has been knocked out in two out of his last four fights.
“We’re going to have the rest of our camp here. Just so I can get used to the environment. I just want to be in the atmosphere of it all,” said Jermaine Franklin to Matchroom Boxing about his training camp for the November 26th fight against Dillian Whyte.
“It means a lot. I’m grateful for the opportunity and for the chance to exercise my skills at the top level, and I’m ready to show the world what I can do.
“Dillian is a hard fighter; he’s a scraper. Stepping into any fight is a challenge. I take everybody serious. I don’t take nobody lightly. If Dillian’s not a world champion, I’m going to treat him like he’s a world champion.
“My mentality is always to come in there and do the best I got and fight the best I got and never quit and never stop. I don’t give away my secrets,” said Franklin when asked what flaws he’s noticed about Whyte.
“I’m just a confident person, naturally. I don’t want to say I’m overly cocky, but I come from a place where you have to be confident about yourself because a lot of people don’t believe in you. So you have to push a lot for yourself.
“Where I come from kind of gives me the confidence that I have. Hard work and dedication kind of adds to the confidence. I’m just ready to prove my confidence.
“This is really changing my family’s life, the ones I care about the most. My kids, my girlfriend, my mother, my sister, and my brother. It gives me an opportunity for me to be able to change and have generational wealth and be able to take care of the people that take care of me.
“You can expect it all. I can box; I can brawl. Basically, whatever opportunity presents itself. So whenever the right opportunity. We’ve been watching Dillian. I see certain things that he does.
“I’m going to box him, and I’m going to brawl him. Whenever the opportunity comes for the right style, we’re going to turn it on. I visualize my hands being raised at the end of this, potentially with him on the floor.
“Yeah, most definitely; I don’t see it any other way. I don’t think he can beat me. Yes, I want to unify. I’m not the guy that gets the belt and runs from everybody else. I love the challenge. I want to fight everybody.
“If you’re one of the best, I want to fight you. If I got a belt and you got a belt, I most definitely want to fight you. We’re going to call and send the contracts. We’re going to do all of that.
“We’re not ducking no smoke. Just stay prepared, don’t sleep on me. I feel like he’s taking me lightly because of who he is and his status, but I’m here to show him on the 26th,” said Jermaine Franklin.
