The Moses Itauma contradiction that gives a clue to his true boxing future

Moses Itauma is getting closer. The serious part of his boxing career will start at about 10pm on Saturday in Manchester, when his ring apprenticeship ends and the real fights begin. This weekend, Itauma meets American Jermaine Franklin , a veteran of 26 fights but still a young man in the heavyweight business at 32, and whose only two losses are more relevant than any of his 24 wins; there is a subtle difference between winning in risk-free fights and losing in fights where you have no chance.

Franklin is tough, tested, rested , and the type of seasoned and underestimated fighter that could beat any boxer on any given night. Itauma is still only 21, a wide-eyed kid in a division of dangerous old men, and he is also one of the most hyped fighters in the modern business. Moses Itauma (left) facing off with Jermaine Franklin (Getty Images) The hype started when he was still a schoolboy (at 16, he showed up to spar with the world’s best heavyweights in his school uniform) and has continued through his 13 professional fights.

The Franklin fight is the first real test, a bout where Moses might have to go into the heavyweight unknown; Franklin’s two losses were over the full 12-round distance, to Dillian Whyte and Anthony Joshua. So far, Itauma has done everything right in a ring apprenticeship that launched with bold claims that he would win a world heavyweight title at a younger age than Mike Tyson. Luckily, that storyline vanished, and Itauma could get on with learning, winning, and growing as an adult and a boxer.

Itauma has often talked about his sacrifices to get where he is – he lost his teenage years to the gym and his chosen profession. In Itauma’s last fight he travelled to Saudi Arabia in August, and dropped and stopped the ghost of Whyte in just 119 seconds ; we had no idea that Whyte would be beaten so quickly. It was a real message and what was needed was a strong man, a man with a credible record and a man who posed a risk, but not a threat: Franklin is ideal and this might just be one of Frank Warren’s greatest pieces of matchmaking.