Boxing
Jermaine Franklin believes this one advantage can help him beat Moses Itauma
Itauma vs Franklin: Subscribe to watch - Saturday
For all the understandable hype surrounding Moses Itauma, there is one area in which he doesn’t have advantage over Jermaine Franklin.
The pair clash at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester on Saturday night, live on DAZN, and Franklin is hoping his superior experience can make all the difference in the highly-anticipated contest.
Franklin has gone the 12-round distance with Dillian Whyte and Anthony Joshua, albeit it in defeat, and he believes that his experience of going deep in fights will count for a lot against his 21-year-old opponent.
Franklin shows off destructive power
Watch: Behind the scenes at Franklin's training camp
Itauma (13-0, 11 KOs) has never been beyond six rounds and he has won his last nine outings inside a couple rounds, but Franklin think he has what it requires to take the younger man into deep waters.
Speaking exclusively to DAZN News, Franklin said: “I don’t think he has that much ring experience.
“He’s still young, he’s still going to come and fight, and going to give a hard fight, but I think my experience gives me a great advantage in this fight.
“I know certain things, I know how rounds go, I know how the fight later on goes, how your body reacts to certain things. I think my experience will give me an advantage.”
Itauma was expected to get some rounds against Dillian Whyte last summer but stopped the former world title challenger in the opening session with a devastating performance of speed and power.
That led him to a bout with Franklin and the American wouldn’t be drawn on whether he thinks Itauma is being moved to quickly or not.
He continued: “That’s a question for Queensberry (Itauma’s promotors), they’re the ones who are pushing him like this.
“This tends to happen a lot in boxing, people who are good or show early promise, they get pushed very fast.”
“It’s a thing that happens a lot in boxing.”
However, Franklin did admit that he is getting motivation from the fact that so many people are writing him off this weekend and seeing him as a stepping stone for Itauma.
He added: “I mean, I’ve always been an underdog and I’ve always been looked down upon, so yeah, in a way, it’s motivation.
“It adds fuel to the fire.”
Watch Itauma vs. Franklin with a DAZN subscription
Knockout sensation Moses Itauma faces his toughest test against Jermaine Franklin this Saturday night, March 28. Watch exclusively with a DAZN Ultimate subscription to also get PPVs Chisora vs. Wilder (April 4), Wardley vs. Dubois (May 9), and Usyk vs Verhoeven (May 23) included.
