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.

Somewhat surprisingly, Mike Coppinger reports that Gervonta Davis may have a rematch with Isaac Cruz following his 2021 fall. For those who don’t know, Davis is currently accused of abusing his ex-girlfriend. Given the seriousness of the charges against him, it was understandable to believe that Davis would be out of the ring for an extended period of time. However, recent reports indicate that this may not be the case. Of course, the rematch may take place this summer.

Although Cruz won their 2021 battle by decision, he put up quite a fight with Davis, perhaps proving to be the Baltimore native’s toughest opponent at the time. Davis’ last fight was against Lamont Roach. This fight, which took place a year ago this month, was much closer than expected. Some believed Davis’ decision victory was a gift from the judges. Roach wanted a rematch, but it didn’t happen. Instead, Davis was scheduled to face Jake Paul in a novelty fight slow last year. Davis’s legal troubles put an end to the scheduled fight, and Anthony Joshua replaced Davis and then defeated Paul. While Davis would undoubtedly be the favorite to sign a rematch with Cruz, fans and analysts would undoubtedly wonder whether Davis is the fighter he once was.

First there was the Roach fight, then there was the fact that Roach was unwilling or unable to face Roach in a legitimate rematch. Add in the legal issues and a reported lack of interest in the build-up to Paul’s later crushing fight, and it’s no wonder people have questions. Things got to the point where even before his January arrest, people were questioning Davis’s interest in sports. Reports about talks about a second fight with Cruz, however, at least to some extent refute the thesis that Davis is not interested in fighting professionally.

This is obviously good news for Cruz as he now has a second chance to defeat the still undefeated Davis. The invigorating fighter most recently fought Lamont Roach to a draw in their December bout. Time will tell whether the fight with Davis will actually take place. This fight would definitely be fascinating to watch, even if it wasn’t exactly a great fight. If the fight becomes a reality, Davis will have the opportunity to re-establish himself as one of the biggest vigorous names in the sport.