ITAUMA OUT TO MAKE A STATEMENT ON STACKED MAGNIFICENT 7 CARD
The Magnificent 7 is back this weekend as the future of the heavyweight division, Moses Itauma, looks to make a huge statement against Jermaine Franklin, with a stacked undercard before it.
The undercard of the 11-fight bill features four title fights, but first, we’ll be taking a deep look into the main event.
Moses Itauma vs Jermaine Franklin
Regarded by many as the future superstar of the heavyweight division and the heir to Oleksandr Usyk’s throne, 21-year-old Moses Itauma has taken the boxing world by storm, winning all 13 of his professional fights, with 11 of those victories coming by stoppage.
This Saturday, however, he faces the toughest test of his career to date in the form of American Jermaine Franklin.
Undefeated in his first 21 fights, Franklin suffered back-to-back points defeats to Dillian Whyte and Anthony Joshua before returning to form with a hat-trick of victories, most notably against the previously unbeaten Kazakh Ivan Dychko, where he claimed a fairly comfortable points decision.
For Itauma, it’s been a whirlwind three years since making his debut at the start of 2023, and he goes into the fight in impeccable form, off the back of nine straight stoppage wins, six of which came in the first round.
For a 21-year-old—and considering you could argue he’s not even fully grown yet—Itauma is a frightening prospect. A southpaw with fast hands, quick feet and devastating power in both hands, he’s the best talent this country has seen in a long time. By the looks of it, the only thing that could stop him dominating the heavyweight division over the next decade is injury.
In Franklin, though, he comes up against the best and toughest opponent of his career.
As he showed by going the distance with Dillian Whyte and Anthony Joshua, Franklin really is as tough as they come, and he’s got plenty of ability going forward too—hence his 15 stoppage wins from 26 fights.
It’s really good matchmaking for Itauma. Despite his win against Dychko, Franklin didn’t look anywhere near his best—he was just doing enough to win rounds against a fairly one-dimensional opponent.
His experience will be huge in this fight, having boxed nearly six times the number of rounds as Itauma. However, Itauma’s freshness and explosiveness will likely prove too much for the American.
The whole point of this fight, from Itauma’s side, is to get him rounds and take him into territory he’s never been in before against a top operator.
If he doesn’t get the rounds and does what AJ and Whyte couldn’t—blasting Franklin out of there—it would be one heck of a statement from the 21-year-old. A statement that would send shockwaves not only through the heavyweight division but across the entire boxing world.
There’s plenty of hype around this kid, and rightly so. But if he’s going to reach the next level and put himself into world title contention before the end of the year, he needs to get the better of Franklin and, as he has in the majority of his 13 professional contests to date, look really good in the process.
Willy Hutchinson vs Ezra Taylor – Vacant WBO Global Light-Heavyweight Title
In the chief support, Scotland’s own Willy Hutchinson takes on the undefeated Ezra Taylor in a really intriguing light-heavyweight match-up.
A supremely talented amateur, Hutchinson won gold at the Youth World Championships in the unpaid ranks before making an impressive transition to the professional game.
So far in his professional career, he’s picked up 19 wins from 21 fights and secured impressive victories against Craig Richards and Mark Jeffries in his last three outings. In between those contests, he was narrowly beaten by Joshua Buatsi in a fight that could have gone either way, so he goes into this contest with plenty of momentum.
For Taylor, he’s very much been part of the “who needs him?” club—at domestic level, anyway.
He’s served his apprenticeship as a novice and more than earned his stripes, which showed last time out when he made relatively light work of the tough Steed Woodall.
This is probably the most 50/50 fight on the card.
Hutchinson, a fluent boxer with the technical ability to make opponents look silly, faces the rugged Taylor, who can box but prefers to sit down on his shots and fight on the inside rather than at range.
It’s, as they say in the industry, a good old “pick ’em” fight, with barely anything to separate the two.
Hutchinson has the big-fight experience, whereas Taylor is yet to be properly tested, having only lost a handful of rounds in his 13-fight career so far.
If Taylor rises to the occasion, this could be a fight-of-the-night contender. If Hutchinson uses his IQ and experience to box smartly and pick his moments, the result will likely be in the Scotsman’s hands.
Either way, it’s a cracking chief support to what should be a fantastic main event.
Shakiel Thompson vs Brad Pauls – Vacant IBF International Middleweight Title
A fight that has gone under the radar somewhat—and one where the stakes have increased massively—sees Sheffield’s undefeated Shakiel Thompson look to move to 16-0 against the talented and well-travelled Brad Pauls.
Going into the fight off the back of five straight stoppage wins, Thompson could well be one of British boxing’s best-kept secrets.
After the IBF stripped Janibek Alimkhanuly of his world middleweight title, victory here for Thompson would all but guarantee a shot at the vacant world title in his next fight, likely against Italy’s Etinosa Oliha.
But first, he needs to get past the resurgent Brad Pauls.
One of the most highly respected names in the 160lbs division on the domestic circuit, Pauls stopped the popular Nathan Heaney in emphatic fashion to claim the British title back in 2024 before coming up just short against Denzel Bentley in his next outing.
He returned to winning ways with a valuable eight rounds last May, and now, having had nearly 10 months out of the ring, he goes into this fight fresh.
Standing at 6'3", Thompson is enormous for the weight and is rightly known for his punching power, but here he’s really going to have to dig into the toolbox.
Pauls is notoriously tough and, bearing in mind that Thompson has only gone past six rounds once in his career—compared to the nine times Pauls has—the Newquay man is undoubtedly going to ask some serious questions.
It will also be intriguing to see how Thompson deals with the pressure. He knows a world title shot is within touching distance, but a slip-up here could see him drop back down the IBF queue.
Pauls has nothing to lose, while Thompson has everything to gain. It may well come down to who wants it more—especially if the fight goes deep, as expected.
Liam Davies vs Francesco Grandelli – Vacant EBU European Featherweight Title
In the big European title fight on the card, former European and British super-bantamweight champion Liam Davies looks to win a European title in a second weight division against Italy’s Francesco Grandelli.
Originally scheduled to face Zak Miller before his withdrawal due to injury, Davies goes into the fight off the back of a career-best victory over Olympian Kurt Walker last May.
Grandelli, meanwhile, has been in a rich vein of form himself, with three straight wins following back-to-back defeats during a winless 2024 campaign.
On paper, this looks destined to go the distance. Davies has proven he carries the power to stop anyone in the division, but in Grandelli he faces a durable opponent who has seen every style before.
The Brit will need to be patient and pick Grandelli off on the back foot, as he will almost certainly be there to be hit. If he can hurt him, he should look to get him out of there.
Currently ranked in the top 15 by all the major sanctioning bodies, a world title fight may not be far away for Davies—but this is a must-win if he intends to challenge within the next 18 months.
The Undercard
Looking at the rest of the undercard, there are plenty of cracking fights to keep an eye on.
Highly rated Nelson Birchall looks to move to 11-0 when he takes on Ryan Griffiths for the vacant English Featherweight Title, alongside a cracking Lancashire derby between Alex Murphy (14-2) and Josh Holmes.
Stoke’s favourite son Nathan Heaney, fresh off selling 1,500 tickets for this event, clashes with Gerome Warburton (16-2-2), while highly rated John Joe Carrigan steps up in just his second professional fight against Danny Costello.
Prince Naseem’s son, Aadam Hamed, continues his journey to the top against Michael Mooney, while another second-generation fighter, Michael Gomez Jr, faces Jordan Flynn in yet another fight that could go either way.
A mega card to feast your eyes on this Saturday night—do not miss it!
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