MOSES ITAUMA will not let fame and fortune get to his head like it did with Mike Tyson – as he admits the comparison is a blessing and a curse.
The 21-year-old prodigy debuted after his 18th birthday already being dubbed Britain’s answer to a prime Iron Mike.
He missed out on breaking Tyson’s record of becoming the youngest heavyweight world champion of all time – achieved aged 20 in 1986.
But by 1990, Tyson was stunned in defeat to James ‘Buster’ Douglas in Japan, which still stands at the greatest shock in boxing history.
It sparked a downward spiral for the notorious Baddest Man on The Planet, fuelled by booze and drug binges, and later prison.
But Itauma – who faces Jermaine Franklin on Saturday in Manchester on DAZN – has a too close-knit circle to ever get himself into a similar crisis.
He said: “I think you have to have the right people around. I feel we need to have difficult conversations sometimes.
“I feel like a lot of people have had to have the difficult conversations that they choose to avoid. I mean, it’s unknown, isn’t it?
“It’s unknown, but like I said, I know that I’ve got Jermaine Franklin and I know what’s what, what the craic is with that and whatever the future is, the future is, isn’t it?”
Hall of Famer Frank Warren has promoted the best heavyweights of the last 50 years, including Tyson, Frank Bruno and Tyson Fury.
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The Home of Boxing in 2026
There’s a massive year of boxing ahead!
It’s shaping up to be a blockbuster year of action inside the boxing ring.
Tyson Fury will make his return in April against Arslanbek Makhmudov while Oleksandr Usyk takes on the king of kickboxing Rico Verhoeven.
Conor Benn features for the first time since making the switch to Zuffa Boxing and Fabio Wardley will defend his newly won heavyweight crown.
Canelo Alvarez will be hoping to return after his defeat to Terence Crawford and heavyweight king Oleksandr Usyk will also defend his straps.
Derek Chisora will fight for the 50th and (perhaps) final time against Deontay Wilder while Daniel Dubois is also on the comeback trail.
A whole bunch of British stars could also take a leap into superstardom, with the likes of Moses Itauma, Hamzah Sheeraz and Adam Azim ready to join the very top of the sport.
Here’s all the big fights coming up…
March
- Sat 28 – Moses Itauma vs Jermaine Franklin – DAZN
- Sat 28 – Sebastian Fundora vs Keith Thurman – Amazon Prime PPV
April
- Sat 4 – Deontay Wilder vs Derek Chisora – DAZN PPV
- Sun 5 – Caroline Dubois vs Terri Harper – Sky Sports
- Sat 11 – Tyson Fury vs Arslanbek Makhmudov – Netflix
- Sat 11 – Conor Benn vs Regis Prograis – Netflix
- Sat 18 – Callum Smith vs David Morrell – DAZN
- Sat 18 – Manny Pacquiao vs Ruslan Provodnikov
- Sat 25 – Lawrence Okolie vs Tony Yoka – DAZN
May
- Sat 2 – Naoya Inoue vs Junto Nakatani – Undisputed super-bantamweight title – TBC
- Sat 2 – Zurdo Ramirez vs David Benavidez – WBA & WBO Cruiserweight titles – Prime Video
- Sat 9 – Fabio Wardley vs Daniel Dubois – WBO title – DAZN
- Sat 23 – Oleksandr Usyk vs Rico Verhoeven – WBC title – DAZN
June
- Sat 6 – Dalton Smith vs Alberto Puello – WBC super lightweight title – DAZN
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And despite Itauma’s reluctance to be compared to Tyson, Warren has no problem linking the pair together.
He said: “The only one of impact (the same as Itauma) is Mike Tyson.
“I can’t think of anybody but they’re different guys, they’re different personalities, different fighters.”
But the Slovakian-born mean machine says the only thing he shares in common with Tyson is their love for laying out opponents.
He said: “I like it and I don’t because obviously it’s great to be compared to such a legend in the sport and the comparison to success at a young age.
“But apart from that there’s not really much to say that we’re very similar, I guess we’re kind of polar opposite. I guess we both just love knockouts.”
Itauma is so ruthless he has finished his last NINE opponents in the first two rounds, never going past the sixth.
So he scouted Franklin – who took Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte the distance in losses – as the perfect man to finally give him valuable learning rounds.
Itauma, who KO’d Whyte in two minutes in August, said: “The first time that I’m going into an eighth round, ninth round, 10th round, can’t be against someone like Fabio [Wardley] [Daniel] Dubois, [Oleksandr] Usyk or whatever.
“I need to know what it’s like to experience the latter part of fights. So that is why we’ve got Jermaine Franklin.
“He’s tough, he’s durable, and not only that, he comes to fight. So, for me, this is a perfect fight.
“We’ve been even banging on for how long about Jermaine Franklin? We actually asked for the Jermaine Franklin fight before the Dillian Whyte, didn’t we?
“It might have been for like a year and a half we’ve been asking for Jermaine Franklin.
“So now that we’ve got the fight, I’m happy, I’m pleased because now I can finally answer the questions that my team have been asking and what I’ve been asking them myself.
“I know I can do it in the gym. I’ve done it multiple times, but now it’s about doing it under the bright lights.”
