MOSES ITAUMA dominated Jermaine Franklin before becoming the first man to stop the respected American.
A sensational left uppercut in round five had Franklin fighting for consciousness and Itauma improving to 14-0.
But the writing had been on the wall with Britain’s 21-year-old heavyweight prodigy bossing the action in Manchester.
According to CompuBox stats, Itauma finished the fight having landed 87 punches from his 275 thrown with accuracy of 32 per cent.
Franklin, 32, meanwhile connected with just 26 of the 144 he threw with accuracy of just 18 per cent.
Itauma got out of the second round for the first time in ten fights – and has shocked even himself with his success at such an early stage.
He said: “I’m happy to get the win. I’ve enjoyed my stay in Manchester, this is actually where I won my first national title.
“We come here seven years later, I’m picking up a win over Franklin. I’ve got to thank Franklin for giving me this opportunity, it takes two to tango. I appreciate it.
“I don’t know what to say, the lord is good. I tried to knock him out in the first or second round, but maybe not today.
“So I went back to the basics, and the knockout just came. When I first turned professional, I thought I would win titles but I didn’t think it would be so soon.
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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
- Sat 13 – Tommy Fury vs Eddie Hall – DAZN
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“I’m just a young boy chasing a dream.”
Itauma is now the No1 ranked contender in both the WBA and WBO – paving the way for an imminent title shot.
Promoter Frank Warren said: “There’s a lot of fights over the next few months, we will sort something out.
“Don’t worry, it’ll be a big fight because he’s a big fighter. So exciting, fought a very tough guy. Did what nobody else was able to do, stop him.”
