Moses Ituama’s rise through the heavyweight division comes at a time when the weight class has experienced activity like no other. His promoter Frank Warren currently overlooks the most impressive heavyweight stable in the sport. Queensberry Promotions currently boasts, WBO champion Fabio Wardley, Agit Kabayel, Daniel Dubois and Tyson Fury alongside Itauma in its ranks.
Saudi boxing-powerbroker, Turki Alalshikh, has recently accelerated the heavyweight landscape, with many of the division’s top 15 contenders regularly competing on numerous extravagantly stacked cards. Meanwhile, Itauma (13-0, 11 KOs) has made quick work of: Mariusz Wach, Demsey McKean, Mike Balogun and Dillian Whyte. The 21-year-old southpaw knocked out all four opponents inside two rounds and is on a nine-fight stoppage-streak.
Itauma headlines against Jermaine Franklin Jr. at the CO-OP Live Arena in Manchester this Saturday. It will start a busy period for the division, as Derek Chisora vs. Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury-Arslanbek Makhmudov follow in the next two weeks.
“This is a big test for him,” Warren said in a joint YouTube video between Queensberry and DAZN. “He’s in with a guy in Franklin, who has never been stopped…This is a big step for him in my opinion. You look at him, it will be his 14th fight, and if you look around his record and the guys he’s been in with, I can’t think of many fighters, especially heavyweights at his age, have fought at that level.”
Franklin Jr (24-2, 15 KOs) comes to Manchester on Saturday with three straight victories under his belt. The 32-year-old American tasted back-to-back defeats prior to that, losing over the distance to Dillian Whyte in November 2022 and to Anthony Joshua in April 2023. His hat-trick of recent victories ended with a unanimous decision over the undefeated Ivan Dychko on the Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez-Terence Crawford undercard in Las Vegas last September.
Despite Franklin Jr’s durability, Warren expressed his desire for Itauma to keep up his devastating form.
“If he can get rid of him, get rid of him,” Warren added. “People who are buying tickets to see him are not buying tickets to see him do rounds. They are buying tickets to go in there and see him do the business and look good doing it.”
