Get Guardian on GoogleMoses Itauma will headline another Queensberry bill, when he faces Jermaine Franklin in the main event of their latest Magnificent Seven Show at Manchester’s Co-Op Live Arena on January 24, ringmagazine.com wrote yesterday.
Franklin (24-2, 15 KOs) is well-known to British audiences, having gone the 12-round distance in spirited defeats against former Itauma opponent Dillian Whyte and two-time unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, during five months between November 2022 and April 2023.
Itauma (13-0, 11 KOs), the WBA’s No. 1-ranked contender, was originally slated to top the bill on December 13 alongside the evergreen fan favourite Derek Chisora in separate bouts, before news broke of Kubrat Pulev opting to box Murat Gassiev – conflicting with the sanctioning body’s order days before to negotiate terms with the 20-year-old.
Instead, now rather than wait on the sidelines for the Pulev-Gassiev winner, Itauma can bank rounds against a durable opponent in Franklin, who ended a 16-month layoff in September with a narrow 10-round points win over Ivan Dychko on the Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford undercard.
Elsewhere on the card, some tasty tussles have been announced to begin the new year, including another crossroads clash at light heavyweight as Frank Warren marks 45 years as a licensed British boxing promoter with a big start to 2026.
