Itauma and Fundora Shine in Signature Wins
Written by Greg 3/29/26
Moses Itauma Continues to Show Signs of Greatness
Across the pond in Manchester, we got to see the most talked about 21 year old in boxing. Moses Itauma (14-0-0), the Slovak born Brit who has been described as having the explosiveness and excitement of Mike Tyson mixed with the skills and IQ of Oleksandr Usyk. A comparison that no one could ever live up to right?
Itauma had a step up fight against American heavyweight Jermaine Franklin (22-3-0) whose claim to fame is his durability. Franklin’s only losses were decision losses to Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte (google Whyte vs Itauma if you want to see a man’s soul being snatched). Franklin was the perfect gatekeeper to challenge Itauma, make him go deeper into the fight and give him looks the young rising star has not seen.
It looked like that was going to be the case. Franklin was in no way winning any moment of the fight but he was proving tough and forcing Itauma to work. Then the 5th round came and Itauma landed an upper cut that short circuited Franklin’s operating system, locking him up on his fight gazing out into the fabric of the universe until Itauma landed a right hook as the ref rushed in to call the fight off.
I have been cautiously optimistic about Itauma. We have been burned by young, crazy athletic heavyweight prospects before (google Jared Anderson vs Martin Bakole to see a grown man get bullied worse than any school yard bullying). Itauma has all the variables to be the next face of the heavyweight division AND global boxing. He has the cardio, footwork and ring IQ to give the older, plodding heavyweight fits and he has enough concrete in his hands to neutralize smaller, shift heavyweights and turn them into heavy bags for him to beat up on.
Itauma has officially entered my Top 10 Heavyweights. You are going to hear pundits say he will be the one to beat Usyk. Let’s take a deep breath. We don’t want to ruin a pudding superstar by throwing him into the deep end too early. I would love to see Itauma vs Efe Ajagba/Joseph Parker/Jarrell Miller type. Give him another step up fight against a legit heavyweight contender and if he keeps buzzsawing victims THEN we talk about him squaring off against Pound for Pound great Usyk.
Fundora Continues to Dominate
I am not afraid to say it anymore. Sebastian Fundora (24-1-1) is the most ‘Fun’ (see what I did there?) fighter that no one has heard of.
With an HOF nickname of The Towering Inferno, Fundora is routinely in fights that simply rule. That is what the science and analytics tell us. Fundora is a complete and utter anomaly. He is 28 years old, the king of all 154 lbers. That is where his story’s blandness ends. At 154 lbs, Fundora has to EAT in order to make that weight because he is 6’6 feet tall. Think about that. What the hell? His dad is proving to be a world class trainer with two world champion kids. Sebastian being the first Fundora to win a title but even he is outclassed by his sister who is the youngest undisputed champ in boxing at the age of 22.
Okay… but Fundora has a loss and a draw? How can he be this good? Despite nearly all his opponents being 5’10, Fundora does not fight like a 6’6 giant. Fundora loves to bang. There comes a point in every Fundora fight where he stands still and starts throwing haymakers. Fundora routinely gets clipped and pieced up but he is insanely tough (google Fundora vs Tim Tszyu I to see more blood than a Rambo and Predator movie combined). His solo loss came in a fight he was winning every round until he got hit with a haymaker from the gods and sent him down on the canvas.
Saturday night from Vegas we saw Fundora continue his weirdly dominant aura/run (did I forget to mention he recently was accepted into Harvard’s Engineering program?) as he added the best name to his resume by thoroughly beating Keith Thurman (31-2-0). Thurman has been in the ring with boxing greats and has shown himself to be a smart, athletic champion. But he had only fought a few times in 6 years due to injuries and boxing politics.
From the opening bell it became quickly evident that Fundora was in charge and almost toying with Thurman. Starting around the 4th round Fundora started to put together vicious combinations and smiled at Thurman as a way to tell him that his time was running short. The ref stepped to stop the fight in the 6th round to save Thurman from taking any more unnecessary damage.
Fundora might be the most ‘Fun’ (I know I already used this one but come one!) fighter in all of boxing right now. We need people to start paying attention.