Former WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury is the current gold standard for prospects in the UK. He may have lost a couple of fights, but it was against Oleksandr Usyk after all. The 37-year-old is set to make his comeback on April 11 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, ending his latest stint in retirement. 

Fury will face Arslanbek Makhmudov. But at the age of 37, he doesn’t have that many years left in the sport, unless he wants to follow in George Foreman’s footsteps. But before that day comes, the Brit has revealed whether he intends to share the ring with the next generation’s brightest prospect in boxing’s flagship division—Moses Itauma. 

“He’s got his own career to think about. He’s 21, I’ll be a grandfather by the time he is up there,” Tyson Fury told Metro last week. “By the time he is 30, I’ll be a grandad, guaranteed.”

Oleksandr Usyk, who handed Tyson Fury two consecutive defeats in 2024 and remains undefeated, is widely considered the greatest boxer of his generation. Usyk is also keeping busy with a fight against former kickboxer Rico Verhoeven on May 23 at the Pyramids of Giza. And his opinion on fighting Itauma aligns with Fury as well. 

“I said before, I’m not going to fight Itauma because he is a young guy,’ the Ukrainian said last month. “But I don’t want to break him because this guy likes me.”

There’s no doubt that Moses Itauma is the hot new name in the heavyweight division. However, he never really stood a chance of facing someone like Fury or even Usyk. It’s an expectation for someone like Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk to dominate Itauma, but losing to him will tarnish their legacy and close doors to lucrative fights. 

With Usyk and Fury out of the picture, Itauma’s only chance to become a champion rests on fellow Brit Fabio Wardley, the interim WBO heavyweight champion, who is also occupied with his fight against Daniel Dubois in May. This hasn’t stopped Moses Itauma from looking forward to another show of dominance. 

Having defeated Dillian Whyte via first-round knockout, Moses Itauma takes on Jermaine Franklin Jr. this Saturday night inside Co-op Live Arena in Manchester. And as far as former cruiserweight world champion Johnny Nelson is concerned, the outcome has already been decided. 

Johnny Nelson predicts Moses Itauma vs. Jermaine Franklin Jr.

Nobody has been able to push the 21-year-old past six rounds. What makes him even more dangerous is that 11 wins out of his 13 professional fights came by knockout. So, there’s little doubt the Brit will exceed expectations on Saturday night, yet Nelson doesn’t want to write Franklin Jr. out. 

“Matchmaking is everything,” Johnny Nelson said. “Jermaine has been on the fringes; he’s mixed it up with people who are at a higher level [than Moses], so this is about measuring where he is.

Still, the former cruiserweight champion feels the outcome of the fight is a foregone conclusion. 

“We expect him to win, but it is about finding out what discipline he has got,” Nelson added. “We will find out where Moses stands at the minute. It is almost like a fact-finding mission because we know he can knock people out, but there is more to it.”

Itauma initially wanted to break Mike Tyson’s record of being the youngest heavyweight champion. But Itauma turned 20 on December 28, 2024, and passed Tyson’s exact age milestone around late April 2025. By May 2025, he was already past the age Tyson was when he won the title, making the record unattainable.

Mike Tyson’s record, a fight against Tyson Fury or Oleksandr Usyk may have slipped out of Itauma’s hand, but he doesn’t intend to miss out on securing another win on Saturday night. Do you think he will?