Moses Itauma pulls out of Janaury 24 fight with Jermaine Franklin

Moses Itauma vs Jermaine Franklin pushed back by two months

Moses Itauma (13-0, 11 KOs) has been forced to withdraw from his January 24 fight date with American Jermaine Franklin (24-2, 15 KOs) after suffering an injury during training.

Queensberry Promotions released the following statement today, on January 13: "Unfortunately, Moses Itauma has sustained an injury in camp. Therefore the Magnificent 7 show has been rescheduled for March 28th."

It's a disappointing blow for the Chatham heavyweight, who is ranked WBA and WBO #1 and looking for a world title shot in 2026.

The 32-year-old Michigan man was being brought over to provide the young heavyweight from Kent with some tough rounds after taking both Dillian Whyte and Anthony Joshua the distance around three years ago.

Itauma has bulldozed his way through the heavyweight division by stopping 11 of his 13 foes in rounds one and two.

The Slovakian-born southpaw was last seen blasting word title contender Dillian Whyte away in just two-minutes in August 2025.

The rearranged fight date will mean that Moses would have been out of the ring for seven months, which isn't ideal for a talented prospect that's being fast-tracked to world title fights. Franklin last fought in September, so their hiatus from the ring will be very similar.

Itauma has already won Commonwealth and WBO International heavyweight titles during his two-year pro career.

As an amateur, he achieved a perfect record of 24-0, 11 KOs and won gold medals at every level - English Schools (2017), European Schoolboys (2018), English Juniors (2019), European Juniors (2019), Multi-Nation BoxCup (2019), English Youth (2022), European Youth (2022), World Youth Championships (2022).

Itauma and Franklin will now fight on March 28, 63 days later than expected, live on DAZN, on the same day in history the Louvre opened to the public in 1794 in France. Spectators will be hoping to appreciate another work of art in the main event at the Co-op Live in Manchester.

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