Itauma Flattens Franklin in 5!

Moses Itauma the British heavyweight sensation scored another knockout with ease last night in Manchester, England. Itauma is now 14-0 with 12 KO’s and notched his tenth consecutive stoppage. The 21 year old Itauma had little difficulty against Michigan’s Jermaine Franklin Jr who entered 24-2 with 15 KO’s. Franklin notably had never been dropped let alone stopped in his twenty six fights heading into this match up. Franklin was expected to take Itauma rounds and provide some clues to what Itauma’s true abilities are. In the end we got another dominant performance capped off with a highlight real KO but questions do still remain.

Franklin was roughly an inch shorter and had a two inch reach disadvantage that appeared even greater in the ring. Itauma kept Franklin at an arm’s length as he picked Franklin apart with ease. Franklin gave Dillian Whyte a tough night, went twelve with Anthony Joshua, and recently upset (controversially) undefeated Olympian Ivan Dychko. Itauma had none of the difficulty these fighters had and won every round and hardly took a clean punch. A little bit of misdirection set up a right hook high on the head in the third that put Franklin down for the first time is his career.

Franklin to his credit got up and tried to swing with some big punches but it was clear he opened up at his peril. The fourth round continued with the dominant boxing performance from Itauma who had a major advantage in hand speed and the southpaw stance was giving Franklin many problems. It became apparent that this fight was going to last about as long as Franklin decided to hang back or force an exchange. Franklin to his credit went out on his shield but took a brutal left uppercut in the process.

Itauma is highly ranked in three organizations: #1 in the WBO and WBA, top 5 in the WBC and #7 in the Ring Magazine ratings. He has done this without really facing a prime, highly ranked opponent. His ranking feels a bit manufactured though his talent feels very real. The division is in a bit of a transition as the best guys are on the older side and seemingly on the way out. There are some interesting, younger fighters moving into the rankings who are knocking on the door of title contention. This fight did not tell us much more than we already knew going in. We all knew Itauma hits hard, has fast hands, has great punch variety and is a young phenom. What we don’t know is how he handles adversity. His chin, stamina, and defense have not been thoroughly tested. Franklin is tough but not the biggest offensive threat and at 258 lbs. he entered at his highest career weight since his debut in 2015.

Boxing politics seems to be angling toward an all UK showdown between WBO #1 Itauma and the winner of Fabio Wardley-Daniel Dubois. This is an interesting outcome though its not 100% guaranteed that this is what’s going to happen. Oleksandr Usyk has a scheduled fight with Rico Verehoven and there is a decent chance Usyk will face Wardley next if both are victorious. I like Itauma’s chances in either fight as both Wardley and Dubois have shown defensive vulnerabilities. However, both are huge punchers and very well proven against better opposition. I would prefer Itauma get one more big fight against a Martin Bakole, Zhilei Zhang, Filip Hrgovic type before any sort of fight like what is proposed. Then there is also the question about what to do about top ranked WBC contender Agit Kabayel who has been on a great run and is knocking on the door for his own title opportunity.

Undercard

This was not a night for the judges as only four bouts reached their scheduled distance on a card of eleven matches. There were some brutal stoppages and some surprising results mixed in. Michael Gomez Jr., Josh Holmes, and Liam Davies all got to fast starts. Gomez Jr scored multiple knockdowns of Jordan Flynn on his way to a third round TKO where he began aggressively. The lightweight advanced to 22-2 as Flynn fell to 13-2-1. Holmes got rocked by Alex Murphy in the opening minutes of their lightweight contest. It was shocking as the sixteen fight Murphy has scored zero knockouts in his career. Murphy got over zealous in pursuit of his first stoppage and paid the price. A left hook flattened Murphy who somehow beat the count and was allowed to continue. Referee Howard Foster is very inconsistent about who gets to continue and who does not. Murphy was dropped again moments later and waved off in the first round. Liam Davies won the European Featherweight Title when Italian Francesco Grandelli retired on his stool after six rounds. Grandelli went down in the fourth and looked finished but gritted through two more rounds. Cut and bruised Grandelli put up a brave performance but was never really in the fight.

Also on the undercard

Willy Hutchinson took down 13-0 Ezra Taylor in a dominant decision at light-heavyweight. Hutchinson’s awkward style befuddled Taylor who struggled to let his hands go.

Undefeated Shakiel Thompson was winning his middleweight bout in dominant fashion when he got nailed by a right hand and rocked in the ninth round. After two knockdowns the fight was waved off as Brad Pauls scored a shocking upset.

Gerome Warburton overcame an early deficit to cruise to a wide decision. Nathan Heaney boxed well and applied a lot of pressure early in the fight but wilted over the stretch. Heaney boxed a little stiff without much head movement and was very upright. He looked like one of those 1800’s mustached boxing caricatures. Warburton moved around the ring a lot spoiling the action. However, when stationary his left hand down the middle and his right hook did some real damage. Neither guy is a tremendous puncher but both dug in some good shots.