Podcast: Previewing Joshua's return vs. Franklin and Ramirez-Dogboe

Plus: Roy Jones out of retirement to face Pettis, news of the week and the 57th anniversary of Bob Arum promoting his 1st fight

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The boxing cards on Saturday include the return of former two-time unified heavyweight titlist Anthony Joshua looking to rebound from two losses to Oleksandr Usyk against Jermaine Franklin in the Matchroom Boxing main event on DAZN; Robeisy Ramirez and Isaac Dogboe squaring off for the a vacant featherweight title in the Top Rank main event on ESPN+; and the legendary Roy Jones Jr. exiting a five-year retirement at age 54 for a heavyweight fight with former UFC champion Anthony Pettis on pay-per-view. We previewed all three bouts, covered the most notable news items of the week and looked back on the anniversary of Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum putting on his first fight.

Here is what’s on the show (in order):

• Previewing Joshua-Franklin: Easy fight for AJ or legit test? How will he perform in his first fight with new trainer Derrick James?

• Previewing Ramirez-Dogboe for the vacant WBO featherweight title: The trials and tribulations Ramirez has been through to get to this point and what each man brings to the table.

• Previewing Jones-Pettis: Why is Jones coming back to the ring for a six-round heavyweight boxing match against an MMA star? What do we think of his decision to exit retirement?

• The second postponement of Vergil Ortiz Jr.’s April 29 fight with secondary welterweight titlist Eimantas Stanionis due to a recurrence of a blood disorder that knocked Ortiz out of a fight last year as well.

• The much anticipated fight between unified junior featherweight titlist Stephen Fulton and pound-for-pound star Naoya Inoue being rescheduled for July 25 after Inoue’s knuckle injury.

• The formal announcement of undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney vs. Vasiliy Lomachenko on May 20 and thoughts on the price point compared to other major PPV events.

• My thoughts on Arum, the legendary Top Rank promoter, on the 57th anniversary of when he promoted his first fight, Muhammad Ali’s heavyweight title defense against George Chuvalo on March 29, 1966.

Listen, rate, review, subscribe and enjoy!

Joshua photo: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing

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