![\"Moses](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/moses-itauma-punches-dillian-whyte-1016694233.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n4<\/p>\n
Itauma extended his professional boxing record to 13-0 in his last fight \u2014 a first-round stoppage win over Dillian WhyteCredit: Getty<\/p>\n
Briton Nathan Heaney will also return on the card against Gerome Warburton, having not fought since outpointing Grant Dennis in July.<\/p>\n
Shakiel Thompson vs Brad Pauls, Zak Miller vs Liam Davies, and Aqib Fiaz vs Jordan Flynn are also set to throw down at the Manchester event.<\/p>\n
Founder of Queensberry, Frank Warren<\/a>, is celebrating 45 years as a licensed British boxing promoter through the Magnificent 7 card.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are thrilled to be delivering such a strong Magnificent 7 bounty for the fans in our first UK show of 2026,\u201d Warren said.<\/p>\n Moses Itauma fight offer rejected by top-rated 6ft 6in heavyweight contender <\/p>\n \u201cIt is a statement of intent for the New Year and a sign of things to come\u2026 This show will also effectively celebrate my 45th year in the professional business, and I believe this card certainly does justice to the occasion.<\/p>\n \u201cI am very happy to have our heavyweight prodigy, Moses, topping the bill in another perfect test of his unquestionable credentials against a very tough American in Jermain Franklin.\u201d<\/p>\n Moses Itauma to fight Jermaine Franklin on highly anticipated return<\/p>\n Itauma<\/a> is one of the hottest prospects in boxing right now.<\/p>\n He stopped British boxing veteran Dillian Whyte<\/a> in one round in his last fight.<\/p>\n The 20-year-old was originally scheduled to make a comeback<\/a> on Queensberry’s December 13 show in Manchester against Kubrat Pulev<\/a>, alongside Whyte vs Derek Chisora<\/a> 3.<\/p>\n But after reports suggested Chisora’s meeting with Whyte was off<\/a>, Itauma was pulled from the card.<\/p>\n 4<\/p>\n Itauma is just 20 years old and already 13-0 in his pro career, having made easy work of British boxing legend Dillian Whyte in his last boutCredit: Getty 4<\/p>\n Franklin tasted just the second defeat of his career to ‘AJ’ in April 2023Credit: Mark Robinson\/Matchroom<\/p>\n The Chatham Southpaw will now get the chance to move one step closer<\/a> to a fight with Oleksandr Usyk<\/a> through a blockbuster heavyweight clash with Franklin in the New Year.<\/p>\n Franklin, 32, is on a three-fight winning streak in the squared circle, having only suffered two defeats in his 26-fight career.<\/p>\n His last defeat in the ring came at the hands of Anthony Joshua<\/a>, when the pair met at the O2 Arena in London two years ago<\/a>.<\/p>\n Franklin had previously tasted his first professional defeat to Whyte just five months prior in London.<\/p>\n The American outpointed Ivan Dychko in his last fight just two months ago at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n Itauma is currently ranked No. 1 at heavyweight by the WBA and WBO, and No. 4 by the WBC.<\/p>\n 4<\/p>\n Itauma has been compared to a young Mike TysonCredit: Getty<\/p>\n Several names, including Pulev, David Adeleye, and Michael Hunter, had been floated around the boxing world as potential opponents for his next fight.<\/p>\n This month, WBO president Gustavo Olivieri even revealed that newly crowned WBO interim champion Fabio Wardley<\/a>, who shockingly stopped Joseph Parker<\/a> last month, could be ordered to defend his belt against Itauma before a blockbuster clash with the Ukrainian.<\/p>\n That was if Usyk had a ‘justifiable reason’ to delay his mandatory defence against Wardley, having been sidelined due to a back injury.<\/p>\n Usyk’s team manager, Sergey Lapin, suggested this month that both Itauma and Wardley face off<\/a> to secure a fight against his heavyweight king.<\/p>\n Roy Jones Jr: Itauma reminds me of a young Mike Tyson<\/p>\n In August, Roy Jones Jr compared Itauma<\/a> to Mike Tyson<\/a> in a conversation with talkSPORT.<\/p>\n “Moses reminds me of a young\u00a0Mike Tyson,” Jones explained.<\/p>\n Roy Jones Jr reveals huge similarity between Moses Itauma and Mike Tyson<\/p>\n “And the reason I say that is because, when you put someone in front of him who he can hit, they are going down.<\/p>\n “Dillian Whyte was a guy who could get hit, and he got him out of there. That is exactly how a young Mike Tyson rolled.<\/p>\n “Mike did that on his way up. I like this from Moses because it is something exciting that he could get to, almost what Mike Tyson did.<\/p>\n “That’s a beautiful thought, he may be better or he may not get there, but his potential is seriously exciting.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Moses Itauma will fight Jermaine Franklin on his return to the ring. The pair will lock horns at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[6565,2560,106003,105999,6102,6839,106000,26601,105993,105998,106002,10079,105997,37607,105995,16171,105994,105996,105992,106001,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-254891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-anthony-joshua","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-headlines","tag-boxing-matchup","tag-boxing-news","tag-boxing-schedule","tag-boxing-update","tag-british-boxing","tag-ex-anthony-joshua-opponent","tag-fight-announcement","tag-fight-date","tag-heavyweight-boxing","tag-heavyweight-prospect","tag-jermaine-franklin","tag-jermaine-franklin-fight","tag-moses-itauma","tag-moses-itauma-fight","tag-moses-itauma-return","tag-moses-itauma-vs-jermaine-franklin","tag-rising-star","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Moses](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2230495757.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Anthony](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Anthony-Joshua-Jermaine-Franklin.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/MM-TALKSPORT-BOXING-itauma-tyson_OP.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n