“Like, I never been a quitter, so just back to the drawing board. I gotta change some s**t up.”
His “back to the drawing board” attitude is classic fighter mentality, but at 24-3, the “s**t” he needs to change up likely involves more than just a new game plan. Itauma is the real deal, and losing to him isn’t a career-ender, but Franklin is quickly moving into that dangerous territory where he risks becoming a high-level gatekeeper rather than a true contender.
He’s clearly got the heart, but the heavyweight division is unforgiving. If he doesn’t tighten up that defense and stick to a disciplined approach, those “sky is the limit” aspirations are going to be hard to reach.
“I got dropped. I feel like I could have got up, but they stopped the fight.”
Franklin’s comment is an example of “fighter’s pride” meeting a very harsh reality. When a guy says he could have gotten up after falling face-first from a massive uppercut, it usually points to a mix of adrenaline and a bit of denial.
Referee Steve Gray waved that fight off immediately for a reason. Franklin didn’t just go down; he was out on his feet before he even hit the canvas. Reports from the night describe him as “emotionless” and “staggered” before the final right hand sent him down. In boxing, if you fall face-first, you’ve lost the right to complain about a stoppage.
Historically, when a heavyweight goes down face-first, the referee is trained to prioritize their long-term health over a 10-count. Franklin’s body language didn’t suggest he was “there.”
“I feel like I got a little bit away from the coaches’ game plan. I got caught with a punch.”
Calling that “getting caught with a punch” is like saying the Titanic had a minor run-in with some ice. It’s a massive understatement that completely ignores how Moses Itauma was systematically breaking him down from the opening bell.
Franklin’s “game plan” went out the window because Itauma didn’t give him the space to execute it. The reality of that fifth round was far more definitive than Franklin is letting on.
“I mean, the sky is the limit.”
That is a massive stretch from a guy who just got stopped in five rounds. When a 32-year-old heavyweight says “the sky is the limit” after falling to 1-3 in his last four, it sounds less like ambition and more like a total detachment from his current standing in the division.
In the hurt business, the “sky” usually refers to world titles and elite paydays. For Franklin, those doors are swinging shut quickly for a few blunt reasons:
He looked flabby at 258 lbs. If he can’t find the discipline to get back down to the 234 lbs range, where he was actually competitive with Anthony Joshua, his ceiling isn’t the “sky.”
Before last Saturday, Franklin’s calling card was his chin. Now that Moses Itauma has provided a blueprint on how to crack it, every matchmaker in the UK and the US sees him as a beatable name to build up their own prospects.
There is no shame in being a high-level gatekeeper, but Franklin’s comments suggest he hasn’t accepted that role yet. To get back to the “sky,” he’d need a string of three or four dominant wins against top-15 talent. Based on his recent form against Dychko and now Itauma, that feels statistically and physically unlikely.
He’s talking like a prospect with time on his side, but the clock is actually ticking loudly. Unless “the sky” means a decent payday as an opponent for someone like Fabio Wardley, he’s definitely not seeing the full picture.
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