{"id":564390,"date":"2026-03-27T13:18:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T13:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/564390\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T13:18:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T13:18:20","slug":"itauma-is-heavyweight-boxings-rising-star-thanks-to-big-kos-but-franklin-poses-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/564390\/","title":{"rendered":"Itauma is heavyweight boxing’s rising star thanks to big KOs but Franklin poses test"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fearsome heavyweight Moses Itauma has drawn comparisons to a young Mike Tyson<\/a> by knocking out one opponent after another.<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old Itauma (13-0, 11 KOs) doesn\u2019t waste time. None of his last nine opponents have made it through two rounds. Indeed, Dillian Whyte \u2014 a former world title contender \u2014 didn\u2019t last two minutes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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A world title shot seems not far off \u2014 a potential showdown with Oleksandr Usyk<\/a>, who holds three major belts, already has fans buzzing though the Ukrainian has downplayed it \u2014 but his next challenge comes Saturday night when he faces Jermaine Franklin Jr. in Manchester in a scheduled 10-round fight.<\/p>\n

Franklin (24-2, 15 KOs) is considered Itauma\u2019s toughest test yet. The 32-year-old American took former two-time world champion Anthony Joshua the distance three years ago. That defeat<\/a> came just over four months after his only other loss \u2014 to Whyte by majority decision, also in 12 rounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like Jermaine Franklin is the final piece of the puzzle. So, when I get asked about other fighters, that\u2019s not going to happen if I don\u2019t get through Jermaine Franklin,” Itauma said at Thursday’s press conference.<\/p>\n

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A 6-foot-2 (1.89-meter) British southpaw, Itauma combines power with elite hand speed and footwork. Only twice in his career \u2014 he turned pro three years ago in a debut KO victory that lasted just 23 seconds \u2014 has he failed to win by stoppage. Both of those were six-round bouts in 2023.<\/p>\n

Still, two of his recent opponents \u2014 Mariusz Wach in 2024 and Mike Balogun last year \u2014 are in their 40s. Whyte is 37.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are wondering if I\u2019ve got a chin or people are wondering if I can go the distance,” Itauma said. \u201cJermaine Franklin, that\u2019s what he\u2019s known for, he\u2019s known for taking people the distance, giving them tough fights. He\u2019s 32 years old. This isn\u2019t a washed up has-been.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Franklin, a native of Saginaw, Michigan, has won three straight bouts since his loss to Joshua in April 2023.<\/p>\n

Naturally, he doesn\u2019t see himself as simply a durable punching bag for Itauma.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel disrespected but it\u2019s part of the game, I\u2019m used to the politics, I\u2019m used to the tricks everybody does,” Franklin said. “I\u2019m just ready to fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bout was originally scheduled for January but was delayed because Itauma sustained an injury, reportedly a biceps tear.<\/p>\n

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Who is Moses Itauma?<\/p>\n

His father is Nigerian and his mother is from Slovakia, where Itauma was born. They moved to southeast England \u2014 Chatham in Kent \u2014 when he was young. Racism was one of the reasons they moved, he said last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cTimes have changed but growing up … the Slovak people weren\u2019t used to seeing people of color. It was hard,\u201d Itauma said at a press conference in Nigeria last October.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy brothers experienced it more only because they went to school. When we moved out of Slovakia, (I) wasn\u2019t really old enough for me to experience it but my brothers definitely experienced it. My dad just said we\u2019re packing our bags and we\u2019re going to London \u2014 or Kent.”<\/p>\n

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Itauma said he’s a forgiving person and that he still returns to Slovakia each year to spend Christmas with his mother’s side of the family.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve still got love for the country but it definitely was tough growing up there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Confident but humble<\/p>\n

Trash talking is part of the game in big-time boxing. It’s not really Itauma’s thing, though. In a promotional face-to-face with Whyte, he asked Whyte to take off his sunglasses. Itauma said he wanted to see if he was looking at \u201ca wolf or a sheep.\u201d The scary part for Whyte was that Itauma seemed genuinely interested in the answer.<\/p>\n

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In the first round of their fight in Saudi Arabia, Itauma dropped Whyte with a barrage of punches and casually walked to the neutral corner while the referee counted. Job done.<\/p>\n

How to watch Itauma vs. Franklin<\/p>\n

The fight at Co-op Live Arena is available on DAZN. The undercard is expected to begin at 5 p.m. local time (1 p.m. ET). The ringwalks for Itauma and Franklin are expected at 11 p.m. local time (7 p.m. ET).<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP boxing: https:\/\/apnews.com\/boxing<\/a><\/p>\n

Ken Maguire, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fearsome heavyweight Moses Itauma has drawn comparisons to a young Mike Tyson by knocking out one opponent after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,27930,80522,76453,12925,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-564390","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-dillian-whyte","12":"tag-franklin","13":"tag-jermaine-franklin","14":"tag-moses-itauma","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}