Anthony Joshua seals unanimous points win against American opponent Jermaine Franklin in London

Anthony Joshua secured a unanimous points victory over Jermaine Franklin at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday night.

The fight was scored 117-111 by two judges and 118-111 by a third.

While the judges scored it a dominant win, Joshua was disappointed not to knock his opponent out.

“It was important to win,” began Joshua.

“Jermaine has a good duck-and-dive style, somebody else from Britain will probably knock him out.

“I respect him, he did well. I should have knocked him out but it is done. He is here to prove himself, not roll over. I wish I could have knocked him out.”

Joshua came out with a crisp jab but appeared tentative and stiff in the first few rounds, scoring sparingly with the jab behind a tight guard.

Despite his career-high weight, Joshua’s smaller American opponent kept moving confidently forward and landed a few solid shots, causing Joshua to bleed heavily from his nose.

As the match progressed, both fighters landed solid shots but nothing of major consequence.

Joshua looked no more comfortable in the third round than in the previous two.

He landed a big straight right in the second round, but Franklin immediately threw back and continued to pressure Joshua.

The fourth round saw Joshua loosen up and keep Franklin at a distance, landing his powerful jab almost at will and swelling Franklin’s right eye.

The round ended with an explosive exchange along the ropes, but Joshua emerged unscathed.

The Brit was strong again in the fifth, landing a strong right-hander, and keeping Franklin on the defensive.

In the sixth round Franklin’s movement slowed and Joshua was able to get closer, landing more blows with greater force.

Rounds seven and eight saw Joshua increase his control over the fight, mainly behind his jab. And after a brief lull in round nine, the former two-time world champion looked to put an exclamation point on what was shaping up to be a rudimentary win.

And while he hurt his opponent in those closing rounds, he was unable to get the knockout he craved and was thus left with a win but not the statement one he wanted after successive losses to Oleksandr Usyk.