Mike Tyson assessed Terence Crawford’s chances against the Four Kings, determining how successful “Bud” would be in such a competitive era.

WITH Crawford is dedicating time to his decorated career Last December, when he became the five-division world champion, many wondered how he would fare against the likes of Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns and Roberto Duran.

During this iconic era, all four champions competed at the highest level for many years, with Leonard, Hearns and Duran fighting in multiple weight classes.

Meanwhile, Hagler weighed 160 pounds throughout his career, making 12 successful world title defenses before losing to Leonard in 1987 by controversial split decision.

However, during his nearly seven-year reign, “Marvelous” scored a unanimous decision victory over Duran and stopped Hearns in the third round of a shootout that many consider to be the greatest of all time in its own right.

As for the other Four Kings, who also fought at welterweight, super middleweight and super middleweight, it could be said that their careers are more similar to Crawford’s.

Regardless of the weight class, former heavyweight champion Tyson he told Ring magazine that Crawford shone brightly in the era of the Four Kings.

“It would be a handsome fight. There were people back then who weren’t as good as.” [Crawford] was, [but they] they were champions.

– He would do well [in that era]”

Even though Crawford had never fought at super middleweight before, he was able to dethrone Canelo Alvarez to become the undisputed three-division champion last September.

But his greatest success arguably came at 147 pounds, when the American stopped seven opponents before engineering a devastating ninth-round finish over Errol Spence Jr. in 2023.

Itauma (13-0, 11 KO) turned professional with the ambition to break Tyson’s record as the youngest heavyweight champion in history. Tyson established this goal in November 1986 when he defeated Trevor Berbick for the WBC title.

While Itauma’s early rise has generated excitement, his professional resume remains confined. The 20-year-old went just 26 rounds in 13 fights, averaging just over two rounds per fight. Two of his fights ended the distance during six-round fights scheduled at the beginning of his career. Since then, none of his opponents have heard the bell to start the third round.

These quick finishes highlight Itauma’s two-handed strength, but also leave unanswered questions about how he performs in longer fights against an experienced opponent.

Franklin (24-2, 15 KO) enters as the most established opponent of Itauma’s career. The American has already gone the distance with top heavyweights and has the stamina to extend fights into deeper rounds.

The fight was originally scheduled to take place in January, but was postponed due to Itauma’s biceps injury. Changing the date of the gala to March 28 brings the heavyweight candidate back into action.

For Itauma, this fight will be the next step in a career that has developed dynamically since his professional debut. For Franklin, it’s a chance to stop the momentum of one of boxing’s fastest-rising heavyweights.

Comparisons to Tyson continue to follow Itauma as he builds his record. The upcoming fight could provide a clearer picture for the juvenile heavyweight as he continues to climb the division.

Is Moses Itauma really the fresh Iron Mike Tyson?

This release Rummy Corner will attempt to answer this question by examining in detail the numbers, styles and schedules of both men. We compare Tyson’s legendary 1985-1986 career, during which he fought 28 times in just 565 days, with Itauma’s up-to-date trajectory. We also look at the enormous differences in their physical characteristics and fighting styles, leaving aside the “hype” to see the technical reality. Please watch and enjoy the video. This is Rummy’s Corner (produced and narrated by Geoffrey Ciani).

The WBC recently approved Oleksandr Usyk’s title defense against Rico Verhoeven, but ordered the Ukrainian to face interim champion Agit Kabayel next.

Usyk will face kickboxing star Verhoeven in May this year in Egypt. It was originally supposed to be a fight for the WBC commemorative belt, but it was later considered a legitimate world title fight. The WBC’s decision was met with criticism given that the Dutch kickboxing champion had just had one professional boxing fight and did not appear in the world rankings.

President Mauricio Sulaiman assured that Kabayel’s next well-deserved shot would be next, but Usyk’s latest interview, in which he revealed his planned last three fights before retirement, made no mention of the German heavyweight.

With the two-time undisputed champion set to face Verhoeven, the winner of Fabio Wardley’s fights with Daniel Dubois and Tyson Fury, it appears he plans to ignore the WBC’s order and risk being stripped of his green and gold belt.

If Usyk manages to retain his IBF and WBA belts – which is by no means guaranteed as neither sanctioning body has commented on the Verhoeven fight – and negotiates with the winner of the WBO champ’s Wardley vs. Dubois fight, he could lobby the WBC for an undisputed fight to trump his mandatory challenge and allow him to retain the belt.

It would be a blow to Kabayel, who has held the interim belt since February 2025 with a win over Zhilei Zhang. Since then, he has defended himself in Germany against Damian Knybadrawing a packed arena to go 27-0 with 19 knockouts.