The first two undercard bouts of the boxing evening on April 1 in London (England) were announced today, the main event of which will be the duel of former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and Jermaine Franklin.
In one of them, the former contender for the world light heavyweight title (up to 79.4 kg) Craig Richards (17-3-1, 10 KOs) will meet with the representative of Latvia Richard Bolotnik (19-6-1, 8 KOs) for the vacant WBA Intercontinental title. It is worth noting that they were supposed to box back in November last year, but then it did not work out due to the illness of the British.
For Richards, this will be the first appearance in the ring since losing on points to compatriot Joshua Buatsi in May last year. It is noteworthy that Bolotnik also suffered his last defeat from Buatsi, losing to him by TKO 11 in August 2021. But after that, Richard entered the ring again and in April last year inflicted his first defeat in the pro on the titled Croatian amateur Hrvoe Sep.
Also, the Joshua-Franklin fight will be preceded by the performance of the Italian EBU European middleweight champion (up to 72.6 kg) Matteo Signani (32-6-3, 12 KOs), whose opponent will be the unbeaten Briton Felix Cash (16-0, 10 KOs). ).