Fast rising heavyweight Moses Itauma faces the next examination of his progress when he tackles obdurate American Jermaine Franklin on Saturday night at the Co-Op Live Arena in Manchester. The match up is conspicuous in its quest to offer the destructive 21-year-old a durable opponent.
As 2026 begins to unfold, a year in which the decade of dominance by Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will likely reach is natural conclusion, Moses Itauma continues to add substance to his profile as the most exciting contender travelling in their wake.
Despite the plaudits - there remains much to prove. Like heavy-handed punchers before him, the struggle has been finding opponents able to survive his fast fists and knockout power long enough to aide his development. Stoppage wins have been accrued and the chattering classes at ringside are suitably enamoured with the British based bomber. Irrefutable is his potential. Lightening quick combinations, and aggressive but precise offence, coupled with a style distinct from those he hopes to replace make for box-office appeal too. He is an easy sell. A sense of menace drifts from him despite a sanguine personality and considered responses, like a panther lazing on a thick branch of a tree.
Next must come the test. A fighter who can evade, absorb and resist longer than faded men like Marius Wach and Dillian Whyte could, both were obliterated. Dempsey McKean had a pretty record but proved too brittle and too slow for the Southpaw hitter and was demolished just as decisively.
Enter Jermaine Franklin. The Michigan man is 32-years old and a professional for a decade. He has ring smarts and is a crafty puncher on the inside. He extended a fresher Dillian Whyte in 2022 and proved troublesome to an increasingly erratic Anthony Joshua the following year. He took big shots from both men and kept coming. His conditioning is betrayed by a soft exterior but he lasted well after a long period of inactivity to compete with then world-class operators Whyte and Joshua. He can be presumed to be more motivated and qualified to drag Itauma beyond the first couple of rounds than most of the men much of Itauma's unbeaten 13-fight record is constructed against. A win here propels him back toward the top-10 and lucrative match-ups, not least a presumed rematch.
Franklin's achilles heel has been inactivity, a three year hiatus in his mid-twenties when the career wasn't paying the bills and he elected to step away, stole his own momentum as a prospect. Victories over Rydell Booker, Jerry Forrest and Pawel Sour were credible for an up and comer back in 2019. He didn't fight again until 2022, and after one fight got the Dillian Whyte gig. A fight some thought he won. He didn't, but it was tight. Easy to wonder what might have been with better promotion in those intervening years.
In those two boots with Whyte, and then Anthony Joshua, Franklin had the edge in hand speed and could manoeuvre the bigger men to some degree with guile and by picking his spots with care. Against Itauma he will not be given those pauses. Whyte's footwork has always been his technical weakness and Joshua was in the midst of a crisis of confidence too. Hesitation on their behalf was Franklin's friend.
Itauma may lack their experience but he will not afford Franklin those occasions to reset, to exit trouble via side doors. His own footwork has been remarkable thus far and he surprises opponents with his ability to close distance and throw dangerous combinations as he comes in. Itauma is also willing to try and capitalise on breakthroughs, he is unrelenting. From a southpaw stance he also poses the usual problems associated with lefties. There isn't much good news for Franklin.
The fight remains a test. Despite scrutiny of their respective attributes pointing toward another Itauma win, Franklin has displayed resolve, ring craft and durability. The counter argument in fights like this is always, 'but what happens if Itauma doesn't get him out early?'. I suspect the answer may prove an unpalatable one for the American visitor because this observer believes the attacks will simply keep coming until a count, a referee or a towel intervenes.
And I like Jermaine Franklin.