Moses Itauma vs Jermaine Franklin targeted

That's not the step-up he needs.

Beating Whyte, however shot, should've helped put him in a position to fight someone half decent without getting paid peanuts.

If he was going to go right back to bum fighting he needn't have wasted the time on it.


Fight a gatekeeper with a pulse, kid

 

I actually don't think it's that bad of a fight, Franklin only has two losses, both over 12 rounds to Joshua and Whyte, and he's got a pretty good chin. Itauma needs rounds before he takes on the big names.

 

Franklin isn't awful compared to others he could fight I guess. He was durable enough to keep Whyte and AJ busy so if it's only to bank rounds then why not?

I'd expect Itauma to take this comfortably though.

 

As a sacrificial lamb...

Sure, having those as your only losses isn't too bad - but look at the levels he's won at and it's really not great at all.

It's certainly underwhelming given how hard the hype is going into overdrive right now

 

Haven't they already tried to make this fight and Franklin turned it down? Maybe they are offering more dollars now to try and get him in the ring.

But yeah Franklin is relatively savvy and can survive rounds while not having enough power to be too much of a risk.

 

With how hard he's getting hyped I want to see him challenged...

Yes, he seems pretty durable and he's only got those two losses (neither of which are shameful) but he's not exactly shown he's anything other than at journeyman plodder himself.

For the claims being made, I'd like to see him aiming higher - if a fight gets made like this as an interim bout in rapid succession to Whyte because it's super easy to make that's one thing, it shouldn't be a target as such IMHO.

 

He's only 20, Franklin is a gatekeeper and can give him some rounds. This is solid match making for the time being

 

He will last longer than Whyte

 

Fighting bums and shot ghosts isn't exactly banking him rounds, though, is it?

He's not even trying to bank rounds and learn under the lights - he's just teeing off from the word go.


If this happens, hopefully it lasts a bit longer... I just can't help feeling that the chasm between the hype and a fight like this is bordering on insulting to the fans and to the sacrificial lambs being fed to him.

 

Franklin is nowhere near gatekeeper level.

Hopefully it'll finally get some rounds going - be an utter waste of ****ing time if it doesn't.

Whilst it's true he's only young, the talent is clear and the best learn from challenges.


Then again, maybe he's being protected so much because there's something missing and they're trying to milk the hype as possible until it finally gets shown?
One of few reasons I can see for such cautious matchmaking.

 

He had a close fight with Whyte same year Whyte lost to Fury. He is gatekeeper level. Its a good fight to get rounds in before he steps up to world level

 

It's very underwhelming, but at least if it actually does last it'll be an improvement, and might tell us a bit more.

I don't think he's gatekeeper level at all - I'd rather see a bigger step up, but hopefully choosing a mediocre opponent shows enough lack of confidence to slow the OTT hype a bit until he's proven more.

 

It's actually a good fight for Itauma at this stage, Jermaine Franklin is durable and has some decent skills. He will last longer than Whyte.

Itauma needs rounds, so he needs to fight durable journeymen like Franklin or Jonathan Rice.