Moses Itauma did what Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte couldn’t do on Saturday night. He stopped Jermaine Franklin.

The 21-year-old British heavyweight ended Franklin’s night with a devastating fifth-round knockout at Co-op Live in Manchester, headlining the Magnificent 7 card on DAZN and extending his perfect record to 14-0 with 12 knockouts. Franklin, a burly American who absorbed everything Joshua and Whyte threw at him in 24 combined rounds without ever hitting the canvas for good, was left face-to-face after a brutal finishing sequence that announced Itauma as little more than a prospect. It looked real.

“This is one of the most memorable knockouts ever for a adolescent heavyweight,” said veteran matchmaker Eric Bottjer.

Methodical destruction

The knockout didn’t come economical. Franklin, who entered the fight with a 24-2 record and 15 knockouts, has built his reputation on precisely the kind of toughness that forces adolescent fighters to think beyond the first few rounds. Itauma later admitted this, admitting that he had originally aimed for a quick end to the match.

“I tried to knock him out in the first or second round, trying to get some money for some people, but I just thought, ‘Ah, maybe not today,’” Itauma said. “So I went back to basics, went down to the body, and then the knockout just happened.”

What he described as a back-to-basics look more like a controlled demolition. Itauma dominated the first round with piercing right hooks and left-hand combinations, firing at Franklin with a speed and accuracy that the Michigan native could not match. The second round brought more of the same: body shots, jabs, uppercuts, all landing with increasing frequency, while Franklin’s chin, the asset that carried him through world-class competition, held mighty but failed to secure victory.

The fight turned decisively in the third period. Itauma landed a weighty right hook early and then drilled a body shot into Franklin before a stunning right hook put the American on the court with about twenty seconds left. Franklin stood up and pounded his fist before the bell, a show of persistence that earned him respect on two continents, but the writing was on the wall.

A low break in the fourth quarter provided Franklin with his best moment of the fight. Sam landed shots to the body and showed flashes of the competitive spirit that carried Joshua the full twelve rounds in April 2023. But Itauma drove him wild with a left hand behind schedule in the round, and the momentary resistance felt more like a halt of execution than a change in momentum.

The end came in the fifth set. Itauma landed a right hook that wobbled Franklin, then followed it up with a left hand that wobbled him even more. It ended with a powerful left uppercut from the inside, followed by a right hand punch. Franklin fell face first into the canvas, stopping decisively and in no uncertain terms, separating the pretenders from the curiosities.

“It’s not about what shots you load,” Itauma said. “It’s the shots you can’t see.”

What does Franklin’s chin tell us?

The importance of stopping goes beyond the highlight reel. Franklin, 32, of Saginaw, Michigan, was a fighter whose entire professional identity was built on being there at the final bell. Absorbed Joshua’s strength over twelve rounds at The O2 Arena in Londonabsorbing a total of 117 blows and recovering. He lost A disputed majority decision to Whyte at Wembley Arena in November 2022, the fight ended in a draw or a win for Franklin to many observers. During his last appearance, last September in Las Vegas, he overtook Olympic bronze medalist Ivan Dychko within twelve rounds.

No one stopped Franklin as a professional. That Itauma did it, and with a composed violence that suggested he had more reserves, shows power the heavyweight division hasn’t seen from the 21-year-old since Mike Tyson dismantled the division’s antique guard in the mid-1980s. An imperfect and all-too-familiar comparison, but after Saturday night it’s harder to dismiss.

The Rise of Moses Itaum

Itauma was born Enriko Itauma on December 28, 2004 in Kežmarok, Slovakia, to a Nigerian father and a Slovak mother. The family left Slovakia for England when he was four, partly motivated by the racism they experienced there. He settled in Chatham, Kent, and at the age of nine he followed his older brother Charles, now a professional lithe heavyweight fighter, to St. Mary’s ABC and established an undefeated amateur record of 24-0 with 11 knockouts. He won gold medals at the European Youth Championships and the World Youth Heavyweight Championships before turning professional in January 2023 at the age of 18 with Queensberry Promotions.

His professional career is developing at a pace that even his promoter, Frank Warren, can barely keep up with. Itauma won the vacant WBO Inter-Continental heavyweight title with a second-round stoppage of Ilja Mezencev on the Fury-Usyk card in Saudi Arabia in May 2024. Two months later, he stopped the experienced Mariusz Wach in two rounds at The O2 gala. In December in Riyad, he knocked down Demsey McKean in one round. In August 2025, he knocked out former world title challenger Dillian Whyte in the first round to win the Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship, earning him The Ring magazine’s 2024 Prospect of the Year award and putting the entire division on formal notice.

Trained by Ben Davison, who previously worked with Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, Itauma fights in a southpaw position and combines hand speed, timing and maturity in the ring that belie his age. He described Prince Naseem Hamed as his childhood idol and spoke openly about trying to implement elements of Hamed’s unpredictable style into his own approach, although, at 6-foot-7 and about 239 pounds, Itauma’s physical profile is closer to a adolescent Lennox Lewis than to the Sheffield featherweight showman.

The road to the world title

As of Saturday, Itauma was ranked No. 1 in both the WBO and WBA rankings, No. 3 in the WBC rankings and 11th in the IBF rankings. The WBO heavyweight title now belongs to his gymmate Fabio Wardley, who was promoted to full champion following his victory over Joseph Parker behind schedule last year. Oleksandr Usyk holds the WBA (Super), WBC and IBF belts, although the uniform landscape continues to crack under the weight of mandatory obligations imposed by multiple sanctioning bodies.

Warren, speaking after Saturday’s knockout, signaled that a chance to fight for the world title could come before the end of 2026.

“He’ll probably be back on the field in July,” Warren said. “We’ll make an announcement once we sit down and look at a few things. He’s No. 1 in the WBO and No. 1 in the WBA. There will be a lot of fights in the next few months and we’ll figure something out.”

The timeline could have sped up within hours of the knockout. WBO President Gustavo Olivieri published Saturday evening that he would formally recommend to the WBO Championship Commission that Itauma be designated as the mandatory challenger in the heavyweight division. The post, which was republished on the official WBO account, cited Itauma’s position as the No. 1 contender in the world and his knockout of fellow world-famous challenger Franklin in defense of his WBO Inter-Continental title. If the commission approves this nomination, WBO heavyweight champion Fabio Wardley will be forced to face Itauma or risk being stripped of his belt.

“When Usyk retires, Itauma will be the primary carrier,” Bottjer said.

Itauma himself once harbored ambitions to break Tyson’s record as the youngest heavyweight world champion in history. It was set at 20 years and 145 days when Tyson defeated Trevor Berbick for the WBC title in November 1986. This window has closed. However, the broader purpose remains very much alive. At 21 years antique, with 14 professional fights and a knockout percentage above 85, Itauma is ahead of where most historically significant heavyweights were at the same stage in their careers.

There is no longer a question whether Itauma belongs in the world title discussion. After Manchester, conversation becomes a fight.