Moses Itauma has his next fight scheduled against Jermaine Franklin, and after spending some time having lamented the difficulty he faced in getting this fight scheduled due to avoidance in the heavyweight division, he explains why he feels Franklin will be a good test for him as he looks to move further up the food chain.
Itauma on finally getting Franklin as an opponent after expressing his frustration with securing a fight
“It seems like Jermaine Frankin is the perfect opponent because what he does very well is question marks on my side. So, I’m excited. About my dates, the frustration — you know, I get it…Why would you fight me when you could go fight somebody else for four or five times as much money. So I do get it but I’m not in a position yet where I can just be like throwing my weight around. But trust me, when I get there, I will be.
“The reason why we got Jermaine Franklin is to get me rounds. But it doesn’t go to say that I’m just going to go in there and just tap around for ten rounds. That’s not the case, I’m still going to go there and try and get a knockout. And even if I get one early that would be good because nobody was ever able to do that.”
On whether he is concerned that another quick knockout for him will make it more difficult to get the bigger names who could try to avoid him
“It’s not my problem, is it?…It seems like [I’ve had a meteoric rise] but it took me 10 years to be an overnight success.”
On Richard Torrez calling for a fight against him
“In five years guys that are at the top right now who are 30, 31, 32, 33…they’re not going to be here, whereas the Richard Torrez, the Teremoana, Justis Huni, in five years they’re going to be here. So the way I see it, let me fight these guys first and then in five years when these guys are gone and it’s only us, then we fight these guys. And then when we’ve all fought each other we can fight the couple of heavyweights that come up. So now I can fight three generations, and that’s the way I see it.
“But if Richard Torrez wants to get it on, like, I wouldn’t say no but it’s just a fact of ‘Why? Why now that we got so many other fighters to fight?’ But I guess the reason why he’s gunning for me is because I kind of have a bit of a target on my back…I’m not trying to fight the guys that are targeting me, I’m trying to fight the guys I’m targeting.”
