Joshua vs Franklin Undercard Confirmed Ahead Of April 1 O2 Fight Night
Joshua vs Franklin Undercard: Cash and Williams look to set up tasty clash – Rising Brit Heavyweight Wardley meets American Coffie
Rising British Heavyweight champion Fabio Wardley will face American Michael Polite-Coffie on the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s clash with Jermaine Franklin at The O2 in London on Saturday, April 1, live worldwide on DAZN – as Austin Williams will look to close in on a clash with rival Felix Cash, with ‘Ammo’ meeting River Wilson-Bent before Cash challenges Matteo Signani for the European Middleweight Title.
Cash and Williams have been slated to clash in a big Middleweight battle in 2023, and the fierce rivals will look to rubberstamp that showdown with victories in London. Ammo Williams (13-0 9 KOs) fights in the UK for the third time and in his second showing at the Greenwich venue, having stepped through the ropes in his fourth pro fight there in October 2019 and then stopping former World Title challenger Javier Maciel in February 2022 at Alexandra Palace.
(Craig Richards and Ricards Bolotniks were supposed to fight on this card but an injury to Richards has cancelled the fight and Bolotnks will instead return on the Canelo vs Ryder undercard in a much harder fight.)
The 26-year-old, ranked at number three in the WBA, ended 2022 with a pair of ten round wins over Kieron Conway and Simon Madsen, and will be looking for a statement win over Wilson-Bent (14-2-1, 6 KOs), the Coventry man who has boxed for the Commonwealth, WBC Silver and English Titles in the last year.
Cash’s European Title tilt was announced in February, and now his future American foe has been added to the bill, his clash with Signani takes on even more significance as the Wokingham man looks to make up for lost time after enduring a frustrating 2022 in which he picked up two wins.
Italy’s European Middleweight ruler Signani (32-6-3, 12 KOs) landed the title for the first time against Gevorg Khatchikian in Trento back in October 2019 before making successful defences against Maxime Beaussire in 2020 and Ruben Diaz in May 2021. ‘Il Giaguaro’ lost the belt to Anderson Prestot on a technical decision in June last year but avenged that loss in November.
Former British and Commonwealth Champion Cash (16-0, 10 KOs) is looking to add the EBU crown to his collection after enduring a frustrating 2022 in which he picked up two wins. Cash and Williams went face-to-face with him in a fiery ringside encounter in Leeds after Cash’s December outing in Yorkshire.
Wardley (15-0, 14 KOs) is riding high after claiming the vacant British Title in November with a third round stoppage over Nathan Gormley at Wembley Arena in London, and the Ipswich ace returns to the capital for his fourth straight fight and third in that run at The O2, and meets American Polite-Coffie (13-3, 10 KOs) in his first fight of 2023, with the Floridian aiming to hand a first defeat to Wardley, who now has Solomon Dacres breathing down his next for a shot at the coveted Lord Lonsdale belt after he claimed the English Title in Newcastle on Saturday night.
Campbell Hatton (10-0, 3 KOs) is back in action after hitting double figures in Liverpool in March, and the son of British boxing legend Ricky will meet Staffordshire’s experienced Louis Fielding (10-7, 1 KOs) in his first eight-round battle in the paid ranks and Essex’s John Hedges (7-0 2 KOs) lands his first eight-round clash against Poland’s Daniel Bocianski (11-2, 2 KOs).