Moses Itauma’s reputation precedes him. He’s only 21 years old and just 13 fights into his professional career but widely tipped as a future heavyweight champion.
In fact a potential heavyweight champion in the not-too-distant future.
Already he's highly ranked with the WBO and WBA and on Saturday he goes in with American contender Jermaine Franklin.
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Franklin has gone the distance with both Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte and will be a key gauge of whether Itauma is ready for a world title shot next.
Itauma is determined to demonstrate he can live up to all the expectations placed on him.
"Not only do I want to prove it to the fans and to the public, I want to prove to myself that I can do what I think I can do," Itauma told Sky Sports.
It's a fight he's been waiting for. "People think I've had time out but from when I boxed in August, I had an injury that I had to recover from," he said.
"I said I was ready for December. December came about, I couldn't find an opponent, so we found one end of January and then I had an incident in sparring.
"I haven't had no time out, I've still been in the gym, it's just I haven't been under the bright lights. But I've still been training. It's not like I've been resting.
"It's the same old, sparring, running, lifting weights, getting punched, punching people, the same thing it's just now I've got to tailor to Jermaine Franklin," he added.
Itauma respects the challenge ahead of him this weekend.
"It's a good fight. I think Jermaine Franklin's the perfect fight, what he does so well [are where] there's question marks on myself. So I guess I'm excited," Itauma said.
"He's durable, he's game, he throws hands, he's fast, so yeah he's a lot."
(c) Sky Sports 2026: Moses Itauma intends to make a statement against Jermaine Franklin | 'I want to prove I can do what I think I can'
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